Eating into Ashtamudi, with impunity

Ignatius Pereira, KOLLAM,  
The Hindu, December 31, 2015

Even as there is no dearth of warnings from the official side of strong action against encroachers, encroachments of massive scale continue unabated along the Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam district.

The encroachers often feel that it is their right to encroach upon the lake, listed as a Ramsar site.

Of late, it is the estuarine islands of the lake that are expanding in size due to encroachments. Large portions of the lake adjoining the islands are encircled with a foundation and then reclaimed. During the holidays on December 24 and 25, several boat loads of sand and debris were dumped into the encircled encroachments.

Ashtamudi Lake enthusiast V.K. Madhusoodanan said that as a result of the encroachments, the lake, which had an area of more than 61 sq.km., has shrunk to less than 34 sq.km. ‘‘If this is the manner in which a Ramsar site is protected, then in my opinion the time has dawned to strip the Ashtamudi Lake of its Ramsar tag,’’ he said.

This is happening to a wetland which perhaps has the largest number of environment activists in the State fighting to protect it, he said. Way back in 2006, an extensive survey of the lake by the Revenue Department had found that 103 acres of the lake had been encroached upon. But, even after 10 years, only less than 10 acres of the identified encroachments had been cleared. The clearing operation was subsequently dropped.

Mr. Madhusoodanan said that in the last couple of years, more than one sq.km. of the lake had been newly-encroached and most of that along the estuarine islands. After a close study of the lake last week, he said that encroachments into the lake had taken place or taking place along the estuarine islands of Cheekenthuruth, Kerolithuruth, Kavanad Puthenthruth, Kanakkanthurth, Pushpamangalamthuruth, Fatimathuruth, Thomasthuruth and Josephthuruth.

He said this was again in spite of the fact that the Coastal Regulatory Zone notification 2011 specifically declared estuarine islands as no development zones. The estuarine islands were extremely fragile ecosystems and the core marine fish spawning areas because they fell along the inter-tidal zone. Yet there was total apathy on the side of the authorities concerned, Mr. Madhusoodanan said.

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Dilution of wetlands Act to hit Palakkad the most

K.A. Shaji, Plakkad
The Hindu, December 31, 2015

Attempts by the State government to incorporate a clause of the Finance Bill 2015 in the Kerala Paddy Land and Wetlands Conservation Act, recommending regularisation of paddy fields reclaimed before 2008 would turn disadvantageous to Palakkad district, which has the largest acreage under paddy cultivation in Kerala.

If implemented, real estate mafia can convert at least 2,000 acres of paddy fields in the district as house plots. They have been keeping a vast extent of land barren for several years, without any agricultural activity, waiting an opportunity to reap profits. Efforts are also on to fabricate documents portraying several hectares of paddy fields as barren lands to initiate real estate business.

According to sources in the district administration, about 40 real estate companies are reclaiming paddy fields across the district, manipulating documents and bribing officials. During the local body elections, local people had foiled attempts to convert a vast tract of paddy field in Elappully by a prominent real estate group.

“Palakkad will suffer the most if the Act is diluted. With encroachments getting legalised, there will be fresh attempts by the real estate mafia, which will put food security at risk,” said P.S. Panicker, environmental activist. It is believed that the dilution of the Act will trigger a flurry of attempts to convert paddy fields and wetlands in the district, impacting the agricultural sector, affecting the water table and upsetting the environmental equilibrium. Though paddy production has remained comparatively steady in the last five years, at 4.5 lakh tonnes a year, in Palakkad, large-scale conversion of paddy fields had raised concern.

Benefits of canals

As per official records, the district had paddy cultivation in 1,82,621 hectares in 1970-71. It expanded to 1,83,634 hectares in 1980-81, largely due to the increased network of irrigation canals. However, the acreage under paddy declined to 1,45,687 hectares in 1990-91. In 2000-01, the acreage shrunk to 1,18,701 hectares.

“We have lost about 47 per cent of our rice fields over the last decade. About 30,000 hectares have been converted between 2000 and 2014 alone,” says Prabhal Mohandas of Daksh Farm at Chittur.

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Ponmala: encroachment on government land identified

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, PATHANAMTHITTA,  
The Hindu, December 31, 2015

Disproving the claims of a private granite quarry at Ponmala in Thottappuzhasserry grama panchayat near Kozhencherry, the Revenue department has found encroachment on 1.46 acres of government land by the quarry operator.

In the report submitted to the Thiruvalla tahsildar, the Thottappuzhaserry village officer has stated that the detailed investigation carried by the Revenue team has found that the disputed land that houses the granite quarry is government land with Resurvey No. 161/5. The quarry operators have also constructed an office building, guard room, and a vehicle shed on the government land, the report says.

The report has recommended action against the quarry owners, invoking the relevant provisions in the Kerala Land Utilisation Act.

The village officer also found that illegal granite mining has been carried out on government land with survey nos.169/2, 169/4 and 170/2.

Earlier, the taluk survey team too has identified encroachment on a large extent of government land on the Ponmala hill.

The survey of land held from July 21 to 31 was following a petition field by the Ponmala Nature Protection Council (PNPC) leaders to District Collector S. Harikishore.

The biodiversity-rich Ponmala stands 1,000 metres above the mean sea level.

Indiscriminate quarrying

Almost half portion of this biodiversity-rich and historically important hill has already been indiscriminately quarried away, making a mockery of the prevailing administrative system, PNPC leaders Annie Achenckunju, P.G. Pradeepkumar and G. Santhoshkumar alleged.

They alleged that granite quarrying was taking place in gross violation of the laws, after removing 20 to 50-foot thick top layer of fertile soil.

Water scarcity

Ponmala that once stored a huge quantity of water in its girth is now reeling under acute water scarcity.

Experts attribute this to the loss of water stored inside the rock through cracks developed in the chain blasting of the huge rock.

The PNPC alleged that as many as 200 families residing on this hill and surrounding areas were affected by this.

They say the village officer’s report categorically pointed out blatant violation of Mining Rules at Ponmala, besides the travails of the villagers, majority of them working class.

The Ponmala Haindava Seva Samiti too has called for immediate closure of the granite quarry on the basis of the report.

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Rare butterfly sighted at Arippa forests

The Hindu, December 30, 2015

Nature lovers from the Thiruvananthapuram-based Warblers and Waders chanced upon a ‘very rare’ Banded Royal-Rachana jalindra (Horsfield) butterfly at the Arippa Ammayambalampacha forests on the borders of Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram districts during a two-day nature watching camp organised in connection with the silver jubilee of the organisation.

The group described the sighting as incredibly rare because the Banded Royal was last sighted in these forests 10 years ago. C. Susanth, who led the group, said the butterfly was seen settling for a long period basking in the sun and that ‘provided us the opportunity to click some great photos of the winged beauty’. The trail was conducted in with support from the Forest Department.

The colour of the spotted Banded Royal’s wing was pure white below and a brown band on the upper side both on the fore and the hind wings. The hind wings were a bit worn out. Mr. Susanth said that Banded Royals are considered rare to very rare in Kerala. Very few sightings of this butterfly were reported from Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (Kannur) and Vazhchal-Athirapilly reserve forests (Thrissur) in the past.

The natural habitat of these butterflies is thick forests below 5,000 feet. They usually settled on the undersides of leaves, are not is not very active flyers, and rarely come to flowers or damp patches. The one spotted at Arippa was found settling on a leaf along the trekking path. During the camp, 60 species of butterflies were recorded.

Mr. Susanth said significant butterfly sightings were aberrant oak blue, Malabar rose, Travancore evening brown, Malabar banded swallowtail, Indian ace, Tamil grass dart and black-veined sergeant. The endemic damselflies Malabar torrent dart, Travancore bambootail and jungle grass dart were observed by the team.

Eighty bird species, which included the brown fish owl, grey headed bulbul, black Eagle, sparrow hawk, and great eared nightjar, were also observed. R. Jayaprakash, K.A. Kishore, B.V. Premkrishnan and Dr. Abhiram Chandran.

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