Sanctuary | Conservation More at www.sanctuaryasia.com | Conservation Tribal people and local communities are rising up in protest against the The Polavaram project capture and surrender of their traditional homelands and forests to The Polavaram project was initially multinational mining firms including POSCO, Vedanta and Jindal. conceptualised and surveyed in the 1940s when this region was under the Madras Presidency. The main stated objectives of Dammed Future southern Odisha, north coastal Andhra and Chhattisgarh’s Bastar this multipurpose project were We stopped at Villarthi, on the banks region and all flow west, before to construct a multipurpose dam of the river Sileru (Machkund in pouring into the Godavari. at Polavaram in West Godavari Odisha) on an extensive trip across Not surprisingly, these forested district of Andhra Pradesh at a Andhra Pradesh’s Eastern Ghats hills and rivers have long been the height of 150 feet at FRL, through earlier this May to investigate the traditional homeland for indigenous which to provide additional conservation challenges facing this tribal groups including the Konda irrigation to 2,91,000 ha of fast-changing region. During a bicycle Reddis, Konda Doras, Samanthas, agricultural land mainly in the expedition in 2010 funded by the Valmikis, Koyas and Khonds. But coastal districts, provide water National Geographic Society, we spent their existence is now threatened by to the Visakahpatnam urban three months following the Godavari rapid change driven by deforestation region for drinking water supply river for 1,200 km. from its entry and the commercial exploitation of and industrial needs, generate into Andhra Pradesh to its estuary forests, including pipeline construction, hydropower of 960 MW, and to at Antarvedi, a sizeable portion of dams, bauxite mining and road divert approximately 80 tmc of which was along the Eastern Ghats. widening. The dams in particular water to the water deficit Krishna This time, we chose to follow the have been hugely destructive with delta. This last is being conceived Sileru (Machkund in Odisha) river for massive impoundments that have as part of the Interlinking of two days, as it meandered down the submerged thousands of hectares, Rivers programme. (Source: hills to join the larger Sabari (Kolab turning hilltops into islands and driving Perspectives on Polavaram: in Odisha) river. Both rivers originate out wild species. A major irrigation project on in the northern Eastern Ghats and A habitat going Godavari, Eds: Biksham Gujja et al., flow west, merging at the tri-state 2006, Academic Publications). junction of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha downhill and Chhattisgarh, from where they VIKRAM ADITYA As we drove across the highest flow together for a short distance motorable roads in the Ghats at around Main threats to the until they unite with the Godavari. 1,200 msl near the town of Chintapalli, northern Eastern As we moved west down the Ghats we came across bare plateaus and along the Sileru, we passed three hilltops stripped of vegetation due Ghats large dams on the river within a span to deforestation, and a sombre The main threats facing the of 100 km. Despite being a relatively indication of the potential impact northern Eastern Ghats include Eastern Ghats’ tragedy short river with a total course of of mining. Bauxite mining and the deforestation, hydropower projects, less than 300 km., the Sileru has associated road widening required to bauxite mining and road widening. been heavily dammed because of If the mines don’t get them… the dams will transport the ore to processing plants The massive impoundments that its rapid descent in elevation from threaten several thousand hectares dams and their reservoirs have 1,066 m. (3,500 feet) at its origin of fragile forests in these hills to the formed between the Andhra This is not a happy story that Vikram Aditya, Dr. T. Ganesh and Giridhar Malla have to share with in the Eastern Ghats, giving rise to detriment not only of wild species, but Pradesh and Odisha borders have Sanctuary readers. swift water flows. As many as four of the water security of the region. submerged thousands of hectares large dams (from east to west – Mining is promoted by the Andhra of forests. Mitigation of forest Jalaput or Machhakunda, Balimela, Pradesh and Odisha governments to encroachments, restricting road Upper Sileru and Lower Sileru) have capitalise on the mineral wealth of the been constructed by the Odisha and region. Bauxite has been discovered traffic particularly during the nights Andhra Pradesh governments since in both states, and large tracts of on the roads traversing the Eastern Ghats and the Andhra-Odisha e hunt the leopard. the border lay Odisha. Historically jeyporensis, earlier presumed 1950. The Sabari or Kolab, into which forest land have been identified for borders, and capacity building of “W locally extinct has caused some the Sileru converges and which forms mining. The Andhra Pradesh Mineral I can show you how we track this region supported a rich floral local stakeholders will contribute them too,” said the Konda Reddi diversity, but in recent decades the resurgence of public interest, but the state boundary between Odisha Development Corporation has actually to conservation of the northern tribal villager. We were at Villarthi Eastern Ghats have largely been not enough to make a significant and Chhattisgarh, has fared no better signed agreements with international village, in a remote forested stretch ignored in favour of other hill difference. Several researchers have and nor has the Indravati, which mining firms including JSW and Eastern Ghats region. between the towns of Upper Sileru regions across India. The rediscovery begun to study the faunal diversity of also originates in the Eastern Ghats Vedanta to process ore in smelting and Donkarayi in the northern of the Indian golden gecko this incredible region, but the hazards of Odisha and flows west through plants located near the base of the FACING PAGE The Polavaram project in Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh’s Calodactylodes aureus and the confronting this landscape seem Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. All Ghats in the Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh is bound to affect small rivers Visakhapatnam district. Across Jeypore ground gecko Geckoella almost insurmountable. these great rivers are lifelines for Vizianagaram districts. This clearly such as the Pamuleru. 50 Sanctuary Asia, December 2013 Sanctuary Asia, December 2013 51 Sanctuary | Conservation More at www.sanctuaryasia.com | Conservation Biodiversity Little is known about the biodiversity of the northern Eastern Ghats and the Papikonda National Park in particular, as no comprehensive studies on species diversity have been conducted so far. The only known information is from occasional studies and British records. As of now, 376 bird species have been recorded from the entire Eastern Ghats region (http://eptrienvis.nic. in/), most of which are also found in Papikonda and the surrounding forests of the northern Eastern Ghats. Some of the rare birds found here include the Abbott’s Babbler, and Little Spiderhunter. Some 528 tree species have been recorded in the Eastern Ghats including Syzygium cumini, Terminalia tomentosa, Pterocarpus marsupium, Semecarpus anacardium, Cleistanthus collinus, Adina cordifolia, Hardwickia binata as well as Tectona grandis in teak plantations. The mammalian fauna of the region includes the tiger, leopard, jungle cat, rusty spotted cat, sloth bear, Indian wild dog, jackal, palm civet, small Indian civet, gaur, sambar and chital. The most exciting news in recent times has been the discovery of the rare golden gecko, which inhabits rocky boulders in moist deciduous forest patches and the Jeypore ground gecko, which inhabits forests in the northern boundaries of Papikonda and from other areas in the northern Eastern Ghats region. The golden gecko had been previously known only from Seshachalam and Velikonda ranges of the southern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, and from Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. The gecko has also been recently discovered in the Niyamgiri hills in the northern Eastern Ghats of Odisha. violates the Schedule Five provisions development’s lethal touch. There is of the Constitution, which regulate “What are they doing to India?” rampant cutting of bamboo, widening development and grant special powers of the alignment through the park we wondered as we reflected to tribal communities. It also violates into a double lane road, and frequent on the havoc wreaked upon the the Forest Rights Act of 2006, whose forest fires. Vast swathes of forest misuse has led to deforestation in landscape. on either side of the Godavari river some parts of the country. had been cleared for the Indira Sagar Meanwhile, across the border in Dam, which threatens to inundate AD Odisha, things are no better, with land from the Sileru river towards the thousands of hectares of land and acquisition for mining being pushed Papikonda National Park, the only displace 276 tribal villages. in the Niyamgiri hills (See Sanctuary one in the northern Eastern Ghats. “What are they doing to India?” Vol. XXV No. 5, October 2005). Tribal Papikonda was declared as a wildlife we wondered as we reflected on the people and local communities are sanctuary covering an area of 591 havoc wreaked upon the landscape. rising up in protest against the capture sq. km. in 1998 and was upgraded We saw degradation everywhere and surrender of their traditional as a national park with an area of and the word ‘insurrection’ came homelands and forests to multinational 1,012 sq. km., by adding 421 sq. km. to mind as we took in forest fires, mining firms including POSCO, Vedanta in December 2008. Straddling the encroachments, mining and even and Jindal. In an ideal world they Ghats and supporting some of the hunting. But even these paled into should have been working together best-protected forests in the region, insignificance when compared to the with wildlife groups, but somehow in this forest is now a major tourist impact of the Polavaram dam (see the past few years, this vital unity has attraction due to its agreeable box) and its associated projects, been difficult to come by.