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Environmentalists tick Sabarimala rail link

D Jose and Santhosh Perumal in Thiruvananthapuram

A confrontation is building up between environmentalists and some Hindu religious bodies, with the former preparing to launch a crusade against the proposed Sabarimala rail project that would connect the famous Hindu pilgrimage centre to the national railway network.

The project has the blessings of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. A direct rail link to the pilgrimage centre has been a long standing demand of Hindus not only in Kerala but also in neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The project, which was hanging fire for several years, got the clearance after the BJP government came to power in 1998.

The proposed rail line would make it possible for millions of pilgrims to avoid the drudgery of a long road journey through wild forests to reach Pampa, located at the foot of Sabarimala hill. Currently, the pilgrims have to get off either at Kottayam or Chenganoor to board connecting buses to Pampa.

The proposed rail link covers Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts and lies in the forest divisions of Kothamangalam, Kottayam and Ranni, home not only to a wide range of wildlife but also to several endangered species of both plants and animals.

Environmentalists, who met under the auspices of the Society for Environmental Concern (SEC) at Kochi recently, have decided to exercise caution as any opposition to the project could generate a religious backlash.

To start with, the SEC will launch a mass awareness programme about the environmental impact of the project. The committee also aims to elicit support from the people who would be affected by the new project.

The committee, chaired by K V Moorthy, has appointed sub-committees to study the cost-benefit ratio of the project, conduct an environmental impact assessment study and explore alternate solutions.

He told rediff.com that the damage that the project would inflict on the forests would be colossal as the proposed route passes through the "buffer zone" or "semi-natural system" of the Periyar Tiger Reserve - one of the few wildlife sanctuaries in the country.

This reserve, which owes its name to river Periyar, the largest river in Kerala, has been included under 'Project Tiger' by the Central government, he pointed out.

T his reserve, and particularly the Sabarimala area, is one of the 18 'hot spots' in India and one of the two in Western Ghats. Hot spots are areas which have a high concentration of endangered species.

A study conducted by the Tropical Botanical Garden Research Institute at Trivandrum had identified several rare plant species in the thick forests of Sabarimala. Several proposals for allotting forest land for the development of infrastructure for the Sabarimala pilgrims were shot down on the basis of this study. Interestingly, the scientists say that the knowledge they have got about the lower plant groups and the micro-organisms is too little compared to the rich wealth hidden in the forest.

"There is a urgent need for an intense and integrated study to compile a comprehensive, up-to-date and standardised treatise on the cryptogamic and microbial wealth in this area," said Dr P Pushpangadan, former director of TBGRI.

Ayurvedic experts fear that the project would destroy a large number of already dwindling medicinal plants. Nearly 4,000 species of vascular plants are found in the region. Of these, over 2000 are used in classical health systems like Ayurveda and Siddha besides in folk medicine traditions followed by some ethnic communities.

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