Scientists and environmentalists have expressed serious concern over the frequent landslips along the Western Ghats in the State, including the one at Bangarapalke in Belthangady taluk on Monday, even as they have cautioned that there will be dry days in the coming years as the rivers are drying fast.
The destruction of green cover, particularly the Shola forests, for various projects, including the massive denuding of the top cover for the Yettinahole Water Diversion Project, has drastically reduced the rainwater holding capacity of the soil, said environmentalist Dinesh Holla. Consequently, all the rainwater during the monsoon immediately gushes down the valleys and joins the sea, despite there being enough rainfall. Water flow in the rivers comes down soon after the rainy season as the soil does not hold enough water to release it gradually.
Hejmadi Gangadhar Bhat, Professor in Marine Geology with Mangalore University, said that frequent landslips atop the Western Ghats in the last three-four years have destroyed the green cover on the ghats. This has exposed top soil as well as stone layers to direct sunlight. The nutrient-rich thick layer of the top soil gets washed away because of these developments. Also, thousands of trees have been felled for various projects.
All these, Prof. Bhat told The Hindu, have drastically reduced rainwater percolation into the soil thereby causing frequent floods during the monsoon and reduced water flow in the rivers off-monsoon. Restoration of greenery on the ghat stretch as well as construction of check-dams along river courses to store excess water should be resorted to to ensure adequate water supply to people, he suggested.
Tremor series
Mr. Holla said that the 2018 landslips in the Sakleshpur, Mudigere and Belthangady belts of the Western Ghats were the direct impact of extensive blasting and felling of trees for the Yettinahole project that involved construction of seven check-dams and laying hundreds of kilometres of huge pipelines.
The Mrithyunjaya, a tributary of the Netravathi in Belthangady taluk, is almost dead, while the Kumaradhara and the Kempu Hole, the other tributaries, might dry up soon due to diversion of rivulets for the Yettinahole project.
Monday’s Bangarapalke landslip should not be seen as an isolated one as landslips were highly unlikely during non-monsoon season. It has occurred very close to the Netravathi’s birth place, Yelaneer, and the days are not far away for the Netravathi too to dry up, he cautioned.
Frequent landslips across the ghat have loosened soil and boulders thus causing more landslips. The situation is similar in the Uttara Kannada stretch of the Western Ghats too with landslips at many locations and rivers drying up fast after rainfall, Mr. Holla said.