Over the past four years, the Kerala government has approved numerous projects in Wayanad, including those related to non-coal mining, allegedly without conducting thorough studies of the district’s topography and geomorphology, according to sources at the Environment Ministry. Among these projects are the Hill Highway in Wayanad and the installation of optical fiber cable in several regions of the district.
Sources at the Environment Ministry stated, “The Kerala government granted approval to several projects and gave environmental clearance to four projects in Wayanad district without considering the soil topography, rock condition, or geomorphology.”
A combination of factors, including inadequate studies of the topography and geomorphology and insufficient safeguards against human activities such as large-scale urbanization and tourism, have made the region more prone to disasters, exacerbated by human impact. According to documents, the state government has granted Stage-I and Stage-II approvals for various projects in Kerala and Wayanad district over the past ten years. The in-principle agreement and formal approval under the Forest Conservation (FC) Act are commonly referred to as Stage-I and Stage-II approvals, respectively.
These approvals include providing 4G/5G coverage to uncovered villages in Wayanad district by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which received approval on March 20, 2023. Additionally, the construction of a twin tunnel with four-lane approaches to improve connectivity between Aanakampoyil, Kalladi, and Meppadi in the Kozhikode and Wayanad districts was approved on March 31, 2023. However, only Stage-I approval has been granted by the regional office of the Ministry of Environment in Bangalore, and no work has commenced.
Another project includes the Hill Highway construction from Ambayathode to Boys Town stretch in Kannur district, approved on September 6, 2022. Furthermore, two optical fiber cable projects, one from Kartikulam to Kutta border via Thetturoad and Appapara, and another from Pulplally to S.Bathery Mananthavady Span, were approved on November 18, 2022, and October 25, 2022, respectively. Lastly, the Hill Highway project in the Wayanad district, covering the Kuttiyadi Churam stretch, received approval on August 25, 2022.
In the past three years and the current year, several projects (non-coal mining) have also been granted environmental clearance. These include granite building stone quarries approved on May 25, 2024, and January 24, 2023. Another granite building stone quarry project received approval on January 24, 2023, and another project received clearance on June 18, 2024.
Meanwhile, the Centre issued a sixth draft notification to declare over 56,800 square kilometers of the Western Ghats across six states, including 13 villages in Kerala’s landslide-hit Wayanad, an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). The notification was issued on July 31, a day after a series of landslides claimed over 300 lives in Wayanad.
Last week, a devastating landslide struck Wayanad, causing significant damage and disrupting life in the region. The Kerala government reported an official death toll of over 300 in the Wayanad landslide disaster, as the search for survivors and bodies of victims continued into the seventh day on Monday.
Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav attributed the recent disaster to a deadly mix of uncontrolled construction, illegal mining, and unregulated habitation. Yadav said an expert panel was set up in April 2022 to find a solution and is in “constant touch with the states.”
“Since the ownership of forests is with the states, we had asked them to submit their objections and suggestions to the committee headed by former Director General of Forests, Sanjay Kumar. There should be consultation with local stakeholders too. Instead of doing this, illegal human habitat expansion and mining were allowed (in Kerala), which resulted in this natural disaster (in Wayanad),” he told reporters.
Scientists from the state and beyond have attributed the disaster to a deadly mix of forest cover loss, mining in the fragile terrain, and climate change.
