Sillahalla pumped storage project site quake-prone, warn TN farmers
“We believed that the project would be dropped after you (MK Stalin) took charge as chief minister. But we are in shock after the fresh announcement for the project,” he said.
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CHENNAI: In the wake of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) announcing a public hearing meeting on the Sillahalla Pumped Storage project in the Nilgiris district, residents and farmers in the area where the project was proposed opposed the move and warned that the site is earthquake-prone.
In a petition to chief minister MK Stalin, M Sivalingam, the president of Sillahalla Protection Committee and farmers association, recalled that the chief minister, when he was in opposition, had opposed the project when then chief minister J Jayalalithaa proposed it in 2013.
“We believed that the project would be dropped after you (MK Stalin) took charge as chief minister. But we are in shock after the fresh announcement for the project,” he said.
Petition warned that residents of more than 20 villages including Bengalmattam, Denad, Mainalai, Kothiben, Maasikandi, Kanneri, Manthanai, Thangadu, Oranalli, Bembatti, Belithala, Manihatty, Meekery, Appukodu, Thulithalai, Kallakorai, Balacola, Mudigula, Nunthala, M Palada, Osahatty, Puduhatty, and Manalada will be affected.
“As the project will be implemented in the middle of the villages with tunnels running up to 10km, as much as 1000 acres of farmlands and 500 acres of reserve forests will be submerged. This will affect the livelihood of 3,000 farmers. As the land is under joint patta, the farmers will not be able to receive compensation,” he pointed out.
The petition highlighted that besides being an earthquake-prone area, the region has been declared a protected Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve and Environmentally Sensitive Area. “However, we will support the government if it implements the project in existing dams such as Mukurthi, Upper Bhavani, Parson Valley, Porthimund, Emerald, Avalanche, Kundah, and Ketty,” it read.
As per the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project, based on which the public hearing would be conducted, the project will come up at 310.15 hectares of which 8.91 hectares are forest land and 239.24 hectares are private land.
Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Limited (TNGECL) has proposed Sillahalla PSHEP Stage-I with a capacity of 1000 MW at Rs 5,843 crore. It is to be developed by utilizing the water of Sillahalla River, a perennial stream of the tributary of River Kundah, by constructing an upper dam across Sillahalla stream and lower dam across Kundah river downstream of existing Kundah Palam Dam.
