Stipulating certain conditions, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has granted clearance to five limestone mines on private land spread over 100 hectares within 10 km of the Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary in Tirunelveli.
The State Wildlife Board had already recommended the projects to the NBWL for final clearance. At a recent meeting, the committee took up as part of the agenda the Tenkulam Limestone Mines and the Nanjankulam Regrouped Limestone Mines (for which the State government had passed five orders) with permission from the committee chairman, and recommended the projects, subject to certain conditions.
Minutes of the meeting
According to the minutes of the meeting, the Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu recommended the proposal with the condition that the project proponent should make contributions under corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards the development of the spotted deer sanctuary. The requirements included construction of a protection wall, providing speed controller on the National Highway stretch near the sanctuary, habitat improvement and any other management-related practices.
The wildlife warden said the project proponent should follow any other conditions stipulated by the Conservator of Forests / District Forest Officer and submit an undertaking that no disturbance would be caused to wildlife during the implementation of the project.
Past violations
Sources said the mines were operational for decades, supplying raw material for the India Cements factory at Shankar Nagar. The project proponents had sought clearance for 30 years, sources said, adding that one of the mines had engaged in violations as it had commenced operations without obtaining environmental clearance after 2011, necessitating approval at the time of lease renewal.
In its impact assessment, the project proponent predicted noise levels due to mining operations on the sanctuary to be less than 6.3 dB(A) without any attenuation factor.
As the mines are about 7-8 km from the sanctuary boundary, the impact would be negligible.
However, mitigation measures had been suggested in order to reduce the associated impact due to running of the mines at source itself, the report said.
After discussions, the standing committee decided to recommend the project, subject to the condition that the project proponent complies with all the conditions imposed by the State Chief Wildlife Warden.
Conflict mitigation plans
For his part, the Chief Wildlife Warden should prepare a human-wildlife conflict mitigation plan and a plan for wildlife conservation for the protected area to be implemented at the project cost. Also, the committee asked the project proponent to submit the annual compliance certificate on the stipulated conditions to Chief Wildlife Warden who, in turn, would submit a compliance certificate to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Environmental activist S.P. Muthuraman, of Thaazhaiyooththu near Tirunelveli, the only person who raised his voice in the public hearing held at the Collectorate on February 11, 2015 against giving permission for limestone mining in Sethurayanpudhur, as it was situated about 9.60 km from Gangaikondan deer sanctuary, alleged that 1.75 lakh tonnes of limestone was quarried even after a ‘stop mining’ notice was issued. “When I raised this issue, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board did not take any action against the violators. The rural roads leading to the limestone quarry at Naanjaankulam have been encroached upon. How did the Forest Department allow SIPCOT to establish an industrial estate near the deer sanctuary? No step has been taken by the Forest Department to protect the spotted deer in and outside the Gangaikondan sanctuary. I’m vexed with the callous approach of the government departments,” Mr. Muthuraman said. When he approached the Madras High Court recently with the prayer of constructing tall walls around the 250-acre deciduous shrub jungle with porous compound walls along the highway alone, the court directed the Forest Department to execute the prayer, besides ensuring adequate food and water inside the sanctuary. “The order should be implemented by June 30 this year. If not, I’ll initiate contempt proceedings against the Forest Department,” he said.