Forest board kills' Telangana bid for plans in parks

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Board for Wildlife on Monday rejected proposals to divert forest land in sanctuaries for irrigation projects. The state government wants forest land to build the Somanpally lift irrigation scheme in the Sivaram wildlife sanctuary on the left bank of the Godavari in Chennur mandal, Mancherial district, to irrigate 3,680 acres of land.  

The board also rejected another proposal to divert forest land for a lift irrigation scheme in Jaipur mandal for irrigating 2,360 acres. The board said locating lift irrigation projects in eco-sensitive zones was a violation of the Wildlife Act, which does not permit any water to be diverted away from a sanctuary.

The government had proposed to take 622.0126 hectares of forest land in the tiger corridor linking the Kawal tiger reserve in Telangana state with the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra and the Indravathi tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh.

Some 1,081.0478 hectares of land located in Kagaznagar and Asifabad forest divisions was sought to be diverted in favour of the chief engineer, projects, Adilabad, for construction of a barrage at Tumidihatti and main canal for the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Pranahitha Project.

Officials sought to offer mitigation, as suggested by the Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority. In lieu of the proposed diversion of land, the existing corridor area would include another tiger sanctuary to provide compensatory habitat for loss of forest area.

Wildlife clearance was accorded for Mission Bhagiratha in the Kinnerasani wildlife sanctuary, Warangal wildlife division, Lingmapet, Markal, and Sivaram wildlife sanctuaries, Amrabad tiger reserve in Nalgonda, the corridor area of Kawal tiger reserve in Adilabad district and the reserve forest within the Kawal tiger reserve. These areas will be dug up to lay pipelines for the drinking water scheme.

The board okayed the Mission Bhagiratha proposals on the condition that manual operations would be carried out in protected areas and an alternative route be found away from the core area of the tiger reserve.

The Wildlife Board agreed to convert the vulture conservation area in Bejjur into a sanctuary. This would be the second sanctuary for the bird in South India.  Regarding decisions taken at the first meeting of the Board, it was clarified that the ban on heavy vehicles would continue in Kawal tiger reserve.

Only local vehicles would be allowed, it said. Vehicles with national permit vehicles will not be allowed to pass through the sanctuary. There was a proposal for levying stiff toll on the road to discourage vehicles taking the road.

The Wildlife Board clarified that a proposal for uranium mining in the Amrabad tiger reserve was for exploration. Officials said it was to study the availability and quality of the uranium.