Environmental groups seek wider probe into Wayanad tunnel project clearances

While welcoming the State government’s decision to appoint an expert committee to investigate the debris slip near the entrance to the under-construction Wayanad tunnel road project at Kalladi, the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samithi (WPSS) and the Coexistence Collective have urged the government to broaden the panel’s mandate to include an inquiry into how statutory clearances for the project were obtained.

In a letter to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, the organisations said the committee’s inquiry should not be confined to examining alleged violations of the conditions stipulated by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Supreme Court while granting environmental clearance for the tunnel project.

Instead, they urged the government to empower the panel to investigate the manner in which various statutory approvals, including environmental clearance, were obtained before the commencement of the project. They alleged that the then State government, the Public Works department (PWD), and its officials had exerted undue pressure to secure the required clearances and that misleading reports had been submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The organisations said the committee should also include environmental scientists and other independent experts. They alleged that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for the project had been prepared in a flawed and manipulated manner.

According to the letter, pressure had been exerted on various government departments, including the Forest department, to furnish reports favourable to the project. The organisations further alleged that the PWD and the then executive engineer of the PWD’s Kozhikode division had played a key role in the process.

They also claimed that reports submitted to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change deliberately omitted the fact that the proposed tunnel alignment passes through a hill range identified as a red zone area by the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

The organisations questioned the SIA, alleging that it had been conducted by a parallel college, and sought an inquiry into the circumstances under which the institution was entrusted with the study.

They also called for a detailed investigation into the EIA process, including alleged irregularities in obtaining environmental clearance.

The organisations further said the SEIAA lacked independent experts in science, technology and environmental studies and consisted only of government nominees.

They also demanded that the committee be reconstituted by replacing its present members with a multidisciplinary panel comprising independent experts to undertake a transparent and scientifically credible assessment of the project’s environmental and social impacts.  A final decision on resuming construction of the tunnel should be taken only after such an independent assessment is completed, the organisations said.