Kerala: Redraft high-range project, United Nations Development Programme told

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government has asked United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to redraft the controversial High Range Mountain Landscape (HRML) Project, and re-submit the revised draft in 45 days.
Under the project, 11,650 hectares along the eastern high ranges of the state - mostly made up of plantations, habitations and tourism architecture - will be subject to stricter land use regulations than even the ones proposed by the Madhav Gadgil Committee report.

The project, proposed in 2011, had triggered a wave of protest in Idukki district that has been as strident as against Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports. Already 37,000 hectares of the high ranges are protected areas, green swathes where development activities are a strict no. The fear is that HRML would set apart an additional 11,650 hectares in the name of conservation and prohibit all manner of development in the area.

The decision to redraft HRML project was taken at a high-level meeting called by forest minister K. Raju here on Tuesday. Idukki MP Joice George, who was present at the meeting, said that the project had been formulated without holding consultations with stakeholders. He said stakeholder meetings were held but the participants were not the real stakeholders. Mr George alleged that there was a conspiracy hatched by NGOs to evict people in the name of ecology. He called HRML an example of "eco-colonialism".

Idukki MLA Roshy Augustine said that there were confusions regarding the project. "We have asked the government to bring in local bodies into the project, if at all it has to be implemented," Mr Augustine said. He said the state was under no obligation to implement the project. The project, however, has advanced far enough for it to be easily withdrawn.

The UNDP has already sanctioned Rs 200 crore for the project and the implementation has long begun. Besides improving the management of existing protected areas, the project prescribes "appropriate" land use and management practices in tea and cardamom plantations and also for tourism-related activities.