Petition to Authorities:
National Highway Authority of India has started chopping 22,000 trees to widen NH 4A from Belagavi to Goa in Eco-sensitive Western Ghats. This highway passes through Wildlife area and dense evergreen forest. The Western Ghats is one of the 18 Biodiversity hotspots in the world. UNESCO has recognized it as a world heritage site.
We have listed 24 destructive projects in Karnataka Western Ghats from Belagavi in the North to Kodagu district in the south, for which more than 20 lakh trees may be cut. We have already mailed the petition to Chief Minister Karnataka.
NH4A widening from Belagavi to Panaji is one among them in the list of 24 projects listed. National highway authority has immediately taken up the work on Oct 22 and already chopped 600 trees.
Request to copy this below-mentioned letter and mail to concerned people and convince them to stop this destruction.
Please don’t forget to attach the photos and also mark bcc to sahadevshivapura@gmail.com
To,
Chief Secretary
Government of Karnataka
Cs@karnataka.gov.in
copy to
Chief Minister of Karnataka
Principal Secretary to Government (Forest),
Forest, Environment and Ecology Department,
Karnataka Government Secretariat,
secyforest-fee@karnataka.gov.in , vijayakumar@yahoo.co.in
Additional Chief Secretary to Government,
Forest, Environment and Ecology Department,
Karnataka Government Secretariat,
prsfee@gmail.com , prs-fee@karnataka.gov.in
Principle Chief Conservator of Forest ,
Head of Forest Force,Karnataka
pccfkar@gmail.com
Principle Chief Conservator of Forest , Wildlife
Chief Conservator of Forest
Belgaum Circle
belgaumcircle@gmail.com
Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest
Belgaum
dcfbgm@gmail.com
Sub: Stop cutting 22,000 trees for NH4A widening in Eco-sensitive Western Ghats of Belgaum District
Dear Sir,
On behalf thousands of citizens concerned on the escalating destruction of forests, and especially the forests in the Western Ghats of the state, I would like to request your urgent intervention to prevent the felling of about 22,000 trees for what appears to be an ill-conceived project of road widening in Belgavi district.
This project under the name “widening of National Highway 4A, which connects Belagavi with Goa”, as reported in newspaper links below, can lead to the destruction of a thick forest ecology in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, and may infringe on the recent directive of NGT, which had asked the Union govt. to declare the Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) within the Western Ghats, as per Kasturirangan report. We believe that many parts of the project area lies in the ESA of Karnataka.
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Western Ghats will lose 22k trees if NH4A is widened
https://www.deccanherald.com/state/over-22k-trees-be-felled-700569.html
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widene38,000 Trees to be axed for a smooth ride between Belagavi and Panaji
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In this regard our requests are:
- As an immediate step kindly instruct all the concerned people to stop felling the trees for the above-said project until all the related issues are clarified satisfactorily.
- Stop the cutting of trees in the Western Ghats of the state until a high-level study team (to diligently review the necessity for the projects listed in our recent representations to the honourable Chief Minister on the destruction of forest wealth because of more than 20 projects in the Western Ghats in the state) submits its clear recommendations.
- Kindly arrange for an effective consultation with the associated stakeholders on the essential nature of each of these projects, and whether they all can be cancelled or tree cutting can be minimised.
- Kindly arrange to issue a public notification in this regard for the attention of the citizens of the state in major newspapers.
A table of information containing some projects in Karnataka Western Ghats and the estimated number of trees to be cut (References: various media reports) . This list was included in the representation we submitted to Chief Minister of Karnataka.
| Recently completed project | Estimated No. of trees cut/to be cut |
| 400 KV High Tension Power Line from Mysore to Kozhikode completed in 2015. | 54,000 |
| Ongoing Projects | |
| 1.Bengaluru to Mangalore Industrial corridor NH75 widening in Hassan and Dakshina Kannada Districts | 13,500 |
| 2. Netravathi River diversion project in Sakleshpur Taluk, Hassan District
(https://thewire.in/environment/yettinahole-karnataka-bengaluru-chikkaballapur) |
20,000 |
| 3. NH169(Previous NH13) road widening from Shimoga to Mangaluru | 500 |
| 4. Tunga Lift irrigation Project (Chickamagaluru district) (https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/Villagers-up-in-arms-over-tree-cutting/article17119587.ece) | 24,000 |
| 5. National Highway 4A widening ( Belgaum to Panjim) (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/38000-trees-to-be-axed-for-a-smooth-ride-between-Belagavi-and-Panaji/article14024504.ece) | 38,000 |
| Proposed projects | |
| 6. Doubling of Railway track from Tinai Ghat to Castlerock requires 1.17 Acres of Forest Land | 532 |
| 7. Transmission lines for Kaiga nuclear power plant capacity expansion | 1,00,000 |
| 8. Hubli- Ankola railway line in Uttara Kannada district | 2,00,000 |
| 9.Haveri to Sirsi Railway line | Few thousand trees |
| 10. Sirsi –Kumta State Highway will be widened and upgraded to national Highway | Few thousand trees |
| 11. 2,000 MW pumped storage hydropower plant in Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary: 150 hectares of dense forest lands. | 150 Hectares dense forest |
| 12. Jog Falls all-season spectacle | Few thousands |
| 13. Lifting water from Linganamakki to Bengaluru | 1,00,000 |
| 14. Talaguppa to Honnavara railway line | 2,00,000 |
| 15. Sagar –Sigandur-Nitturu- Kollur NH road through Sharavathi and Kollur Wildlife sanctuary | 1,00,000 |
| 16. Shimoga – Honnavar Road to be developed to a 4 lane road | 2,00,000 |
| 17. Shikaripua –Hosanagara-Nagara-Nitturu- Byndoor NH 766 C 2/4 Lane project
(http://forestsclearance.nic.in/viewreport.aspx?pid=FP/KA/ROAD/22256/2016) |
2,00,000 |
| 18. Thirthahalli- Malpe 4 lane National Highway through Augumbe and Someshwara Wildlife sanctuary
(http://www.mangalorean.com/udupi-malpe-manipal-thirthahalli-national-highway-dpr-yet-to-be-approved/) |
1,00,000 |
| 19. Shishila – Byrapura new 4 lane project in Chickamagalur district
(http://forestsclearance.nic.in/viewreport.aspx?pid=FP/KA/ROAD/32747/2018) |
35,000 |
| 20. National Highway from Somavarpet to Manantwadi in Kerala AND Mysore to Thalassery in Kerala Railway line | 3,00,000 |
| 21. Mysore- Virajpet- Kannur: State highway widening to National Highway. | Few thousands |
| 22. Mysuru, Kushalnagar, Madikeri, Mangaluru railway line | Few thousands |
| 23.Karnataka State government pushing for Madikeri-Kadamakallu-Subramanya Road which passed through Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary.
|
Few thousand Trees |
| 24. Existing 2 Lane NH-245 will be widened to 4 Lane from Kushalnagar to Madikeri
( https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/first-edit/highway-doom-Kodagu-w-ghats-699702.html ) |
Few thousand Trees |
| TOTAL NO. OF ESTIMATED TREES CUT OR TARGETED TO BE CUT | More than
16,85, 000 |
We have also attached the photograph of tree cutting. Request you to discuss with concerned elected representatives and officials to stop further destruction of trees at Belagavi Western Ghats. Also, let me know the preventive measures will be taken to stop other projects in the list which are not yet started.
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