Environmental neglect and illegal activities behind Wayanad landslide tragedy: Union Environment Minister

Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) Bhupender Yadav, on Aug 5 highlighted how illegal mining, uncontrolled construction, and unregulated commercial activities have worsened the recent disaster in Wayanad.

He criticized the state government for neglecting critical environmental factors before approving various projects in the area.

According to Yadav, the Kerala government sanctioned numerous developments in Wayanad over the past four years, including non-coal mining projects, without conducting a comprehensive study of the district's topography and geomorphology.

The Ministry of Environment clarified that the union government had not issued environmental clearances for these projects, except for a preliminary approval for a tube-unidirectional tunnel road in 2023.

This tunnel was planned to connect Aanakampoyil Kalladi-Meppadi in Kozhikode to Wayanad, but construction has yet to commence.

“When such projects are approved, it is important to understand what is the soil topography, geomorphology, slope angle, and vegetation in the region. In the past 10 years, the state government did not pay attention to these matters. That is why when a huge rain event happened, we saw a massive disaster of this scale,” Yadav said.

The Kerala government had approved several development initiatives in Wayanad, including the Hill Highway project and the installation of optical fiber cables.

Yadav noted that a lack of thorough topographical studies and insufficient safeguards against human activities such as large-scale urbanization and tourism have made the region more susceptible to disasters, with human impact potentially worsening these events.

The Ministry of Environment mentioned that Kerala had granted environmental clearance for three quarries in the past three years, two of which are for granite stone in Wayanad. On July 30, following several days of heavy rain in central and northern Kerala, two landslides struck Wayanad, resulting in at least 221 deaths and many missing persons.

“Illegal mining, uncontrolled construction, and unregulated commercial activity led to the cause of the disaster,” Yadav said in Parliament on Aug 5.

In response, Kerala's Forest Minister AK Saseendran criticized Yadav’s statements, arguing that it was inappropriate to assign blame during such a crisis. Saseendran suggested that Yadav’s remarks might be an attempt to prevent the state from receiving necessary financial aid.

He stressed that Kerala has collectively called for the disaster to be declared a "national disaster" and urged the central government to provide support. All Kerala MPs have advocated for this stance, and the state government plans to push this demand further.

A draft notification has been released to designate ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ) in the Western Ghats and has been prepared based on the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil and K. Kasturirangan committees.

However, states raised various concerns, leading the environment ministry to form a high-level committee under Sanjay Kumar, a former director general and special secretary at MoEFCC.

While states agreed in principle to the ESZ designation, challenges arose during ground truthing, and local pressure groups opposed certain restrictions. The final notification for the Western Ghats ecologically sensitive area is being considered in phases, either state-by-state or as a combined notification.

In 2011, the Gadgil committee, established to assess the environmental sensitivity of the Western Ghats and the impacts of climate change, recommended that 75% of the 1,29,037 square kilometers of the mountain range be designated as ecologically sensitive due to its dense forests, endemic species, and unique geology.

It suggested classifying several areas in Wayanad, including Sulthan Bathery, Vayittiri, and Manantavadi, as the highest ecological sensitivity category (ESZ 1).

On July 31, the Union Environment Ministry issued a draft notification to declare the Western Ghats an ecologically sensitive area, including villages in Wayanad affected by the recent landslides.

This proposal, which covers six states and 59,940 square kilometers of the Western Ghats, represents about 37% of the range, a reduction from the original 75% recommendation.

The draft notification was reissued because the previous draft had expired, and the high-level committee is still working on its final recommendations based on feedback from states, including Kerala.

Separately, Yadav promoted the "Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam" campaign, urging people to participate in planting saplings to increase tree cover and biodiversity. Over 200 million saplings have been planted since the campaign's launch in June.

Over the past decade, the Kerala government has approved several projects in the state and Wayanad District, including the provision of 4G/5G coverage by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (approved on March 20, 2023), the Hill Highway construction from Ambayathode to Boys Town in Kannur District (approved on September 6, 2022), and two optical fiber cable projects in Wayanad, approved on November 18, 2022, and October 25, 2022, respectively.

Yadav criticized the state's management of forest resources, noting that the states should have submitted their objections and suggestions to the committee led by Sanjay Kumar. He blamed illegal human habitat expansion and mining activities for contributing to the natural disaster in Wayanad.

Scientists attribute the disaster to a combination of forest cover loss, mining in fragile terrains, and climate change. The Kerala government has requested the central government to declare the catastrophic landslide of July 30 a national disaster.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the extent of the destruction had few parallels in recent history, and the state was still grappling with the aftermath. The official death toll stands at 221, with over 200 people missing. Rescue workers continue to recover bodies and body parts from the debris.

Approximately 9,000 displaced individuals are currently in government-run relief camps in Wayanad. The state government plans to establish a township for the survivors and believes that declaring the landslide a national disaster will facilitate additional resources for rehabilitation, climate change mitigation, and the relocation of communities from disaster-prone areas.