ESG’s PIL Initiatives Challenging Illegal Diversion Of Challakere’s Amrit Mahal Kaval For Defence, Nuclear, Industrial And Infrastructure Projects

Admin ESG May 20, 1995June 20, 2023 0 Comments Amrit Mahal Kaval, Challakere district, Common land, Grasslands, illegal land diversion, National Green Tribunal, Public Interest Litigation

Environment Support Group is working with local communities, from about 65 villages, impacted by the illegal diversion of Challakere’s Amrit Mahal Kaval grassland ecosystems in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.

Over 10000 acres of these pristine grassland ecosystems that have been community conserved for centuries, as grazing pastures for the incredibly fiesty and resilient Amrit Mahal bull, were diverted in blatant violation of law by then Deputy Commissioner of the district, Mr. Amlan Biswas, IAS, with tacit support from senior levels of Governments of Karnataka and India, for a variety of defence, nuclear, energy, industrial and institutional projects. The villagers were completely kept in the dark about this massive diversion and were to learn of the loss of their commons only when walls came up. Currently, about 100 kms of high security walls block villagers to their commons that are their water commons, soil commons, cultural commons, and biodiversity commons.

In 2013, ESG challenged this diversion in the National Green Tribunal (South Zone), which gave its final decision in August 2014. This decision required all projects to comply with applicable environmental laws and norms, in collaboration with local communities based on ‘verifiable evidence’, as project proponents had sought to escape claiming ‘national security’ project status. This decision was later confirmed by the Supreme Court of India.

Efforts to verify compliance of the NGT order has been frustrated by the project proponents, as well as regulatory agencies. A Right to Information Application filed with the Central Information Commission resulted in an unprecedented direction that even defence and nuclear establishments cannot take recourse to ‘national security’ to deny impacted communities information relating to environment and human rights. The Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and project proponents were directed to share information, and were also penalised monetarily. Yet, this direction has not been complied with.

The Karnataka Information Commission was also approached similarly, to secure documents from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. On KIC’s direction, the Board shared all project clearance information available.

ESG continues to monitor this landscape and is now in the process of petitioning various authorities to recover land from the project proponents, as most lands have not been utilised, and return this to the villagers. We have also petitioned demanding that the lands must be restored to their original status at cost to project proponents.

For example, Indian Institute of Science which got 1500 acres of grasslands to build a synchrotron, has done nothing of that sort in over a decade. All it has set up is a teacher training centre which is hardly used, and also continued to destroy the grasslands by building massive wetlands. As a consequence the habitat of the Great Indian Bustard (critically endangered), Black buck, Lesser Florican, etc., has been substantially disturbed.

Downloads:

BARC and DRDO objection statement to Saldanha application Sagitaur

Ventures India Pvt Ltd objection statement to Saldanha application

Karnataka Housing Board objection statement to ESG application

IISC objection statement to ESG application IISC objection statement to Saldanha application

BARC and DRDO objection statement to ESG application Karnataka State Environment Impact Assessment Agency application to NGT

Counter Affidavit filed by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board in NGT ISRO objection statement to ESG Application

KSEIAA objection statement to ESG application in NGT

Karnataka Forest Department objection statement to ESG application in NGT

Additional documents by Sagitaur to ESG application in NGT

ESG application before NGT on Challakere grasslands,No. 12 of 2013

NGT_Direction_MoEF_Penalised_6_12_2013_27th Sept 2013 MoEF Affidavit filed in NGT in Challakere Case on 30th October 2013