Telangana: Ethanol plant proposal in tiger corridor cause for concern

The area allocated for an ethanol manufacturing plant, along with a co-generation power generation unit, it is learnt, was next to the tiger corridor and the proposed site for the plant was being used by tigers and leopards, as well as other wildlife.

The company planning to set up the plant, Aithanoli Cibus Products, has an environmental clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests. However, a recent proposal by the state forest department to declare the forest patches being used by tigers as a ‘conservation reserve’ has raised questions over whether work on the ethanol plant can be taken up unless clearance from the National Board Wildlife (NBWL) is obtained for the project.

The forest department had said that at a meeting of the State Board of Wildlife in February this year that a decision was taken to notify the tiger corridor areas connecting the tiger reserves of Kawal in Telangana with Tadoba in Maharashtra as a ‘conservation reserve’. This reserve covers around 1,492 sq km in 113 blocks in the district.

The proposed site of the plant is just 63 metres from the conservation reserve boundary in the Garlapet reserve forest block that was earlier approved as a tiger corridor area by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Sources said that as recently as in January this year, tigers and leopards were recorded in the land at the proposed ethanol plant site, and that it was imperative that a wildlife mitigation plan be put in place before any work could begin on the plant. This area is also home to a tigress and her cubs.

Sources saying that tiger movement was recorded in the area for five years in the forest block and the adjacent project site as well as a canal nearby. In the absence of a mitigation plan, the proposed plant could prove to be a significant hindrance to the efforts to protect tigers, and it was quite possible that the disturbance could push the big cats into human habitations, thereby leading to serious conflicts with people, the sources explained.

It was learnt that forest department officials in the district had taken this aspect to the notice of their seniors at Aranya Bhavan in Hyderabad, the department headquarters. As per the Central guidelines on such issues, no work can begin until the required wildlife protection, clearances and mitigation plans are approved by the National Board for Wildlife, the sources said.