Trouble
In The Blue Hills
By K A Shaji/ Udhagamandalam
11 June, 2007
Countercurrents.org
It's
no more the queen of hills. Not much blue mist in the air and the numerous
picturesque valleys have turned into ugly eucalyptus plantations or
concrete jungles. Most of the majestic waterfalls and streams have dried
up. Rare plants and trees are fast vanishing as the climate has changed
a lot.
Nilgiris, the summer retreat
of British Raj in the then Madras Presidency, now holds not much promise
either to its residents or to those who visiting it once in a while.
It only has a dying legacy to tell. Forget both Ooty and Coonoor, destroyed
by the tourism mafia in their bid to make easy money by throwing all
rules and regulations to the wind. Even other destinations like Gudalur
and Kotagiri are under the tight hold of land sharks and mafia groups.
Deforestation is rampant and the exodus of repatriates, refugees and
migrants is still continuing.
A road project linking Gudalur
with Sathyamangalam bypassing Ootty and a railway line connecting nearby
Wayanad and Malappuram in Kerala with Nanjangud in Karnataka are on
the active consideration of Union Government and if implemented once,
they would wipe out the remaining flora and fauna of the blue hills.
Efforts to establish a gigantic neutrino research station with an underground
laboratory and a surface lab at Singara near Massinagudi within Muthumalai
Wildlife Sanctuary are also fast progressing giving a strong indication
that the rich biodiversity of the region is not safer.
Repatriate Indian Tamils
from Sri Lanka, refugees who left the island nation following the escalation
of ethnic strife and Malayalee migrant farmers from Southern Kerala
are still remain the aggrieved lot in Nilgiris though vast stretches
of forest land were destroyed for their rehabilitation and crores of
public money were wasted in the name of their welfare. The grass lands
and sholas, the twin eco-system of the Nilgiris, are also under threat
at the hands of film production units, which have little care for the
conservation of the real beauties of the hills.
Going by the history, century-old
Nilgiri Mountain Railway had sounded the death knell of the hills first.
The Madras Railway Company, a British firm, had completed the first
stretch from Mettupalayam to Conoor in 1899 while Ooty was connected
by 1908. A journey in it is unique and exciting as it is the only train
in India that runs on a special rack provided centrally between the
track rails. The 45-kilometre journey climbs steep gradients, over waterfalls
and streams, passing through thick jungle, long tunnels, ravines, gorges
and cliffs.
Before the arrival of the
train, it was a long and arduous task to climb the hills on horseback,
with bullocks whipped into pulling goods over a long and slow trek through
the hills. The road and train made the journey easy and the destruction
of the hills inevitable. British greed and Indian complicity did the
rest.
John Sullivan, Collector
of Coimbatore, is credited with the discovery of the Nilgiris, specifically
Ooty, in 1819. But people have lived here for ages and human remains
in the Nilgiris have been dated to 10,000 B.C.
Neolithic sarcophagi, the
Eluthu Paarai rock paintings of 3000 B.C. and the mysterious Edakkal
Cave inscriptions are among the earliest archeological remains found
in South India. The descendants of those people are the colourful Toda,
Kota, Kurumba, Irula and Paniya tribes and their subsidiaries, and the
more agricultural Badagas.
According to experts, Nilgiris
is undoubtedly an excellent case for study of inter-tribal relationships.
The Todas bred buffaloes that supplied the milk, the Kotas were potters,
ironsmiths and carpenters, Kurumbas were the magico-religious sorcerers,
Irulas were herbal doctors and the Paniyas were slaves and bonded labourers.
The Badagas were related to the Lingayats of Karnataka and brought the
science of agriculture to the hills. Each tribe performed its exclusive
role in the barter economy, besides eschewing inter-tribal marriages
and even communal feasting.
The tribes preserved the
pristine beauty of the hills through millennia. Yet, in the 120 years
or so since the British went up the hills, the Nilgiris have become
an environmental hotspot. What happened?
The Nilgiris (Neela Giri
or Blue Mountains) are so-named because of the blue mist that used to
envelops them and because of the kurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus)
flower, a tall bushy scrub eight to ten feet high with bright blue bell-like
flowers that bloom once in twelve years and cover the hills in a blue
haze. The Nilgiris are rich in plant diversity and about 3000 varieties
of flowering plants have been identified here. Of the identified species
of animals are 74 mammals, 342 birds, 120 reptiles and 49 amphibians,
besides many butterfly and insect species. The unidentified probably
runs into thousands.
The major hills are the
Nilgiri, Nilambur and Siruvani hills. The elevation ranges from 300
metres to 2700 metres above mean sea level. The highest point is Doddabetta
at a height of 2,636 metres. Several rivers either flow through the
Nilgiris or originate there — Pykara, Moyar, Bhavani, Chaliyar,
Kodalundi, Bharathapuzha, Noyil, Kundah, Suvarnathi and Lakshmana tirtha.
The Nilgiris is home to the last tropical forests and rainforests of
South India.
The Nilgiris were the first
to be declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1986, an area of 5520 sq. kms.
A biosphere reserve is a protected area with a unique environment and
ecology. There are several reserve forests such as Nilambur, Kallar,
Sirumugai, Siruvani Sigur and Singara; sanctuaries such as Wynad, Nagarhole
and Mudumalai; and national parks such as Silent Valley and Bandipur.
The declaration of the NBR
has not contained the degeneration of the Nilgiris. The major problem
is deforestation. Vast stretches were denuded of their green cover.
Between 1849 and 1992, the sholas decreased from 8,600 hectares (ha)
to 4,225 ha, grasslands from 29,875 ha to 4,700 ha. The timber was used
for the railway sleepers during the British period, and, till today,
for construction, furniture, paper, fuel and fuelwood for the tea industry.
The cutting of trees and destruction of forests has resulted in habitat
loss for wildlife and soil erosion, the rains washing away the rich
topsoil year after year.
Another problem with the
hills is the tea industry. It was in fact Sullivan who introduced tea
in the Nilgiris, but it was only after 1865 that tea cultivation became
important. Today, nearly 16,900 ha are under tea cultivation, served
by highly polluting factories that process the tea and, in the process,
pollute the pure Nilgiri air. By law, tea must be planted on slopes
of above 330, but this law is easily flouted. Unfortunately, while tea
gardens look green, they do not encourage the existence of a natural
ecosystem. The land under cultivation for ''English'' vegetables has
also gone up, to over 12,400 ha. All these plants have short inadequate
roots, leading to an increase in the number of landslides.
The rocks and boulders that
make up the hills are held together by soil. When trees are cut down,
their roots are no longer available to hold the soil together. A heavy
rainfall is sufficient to make the rocks and boulders come hurtling
down. Tea and vegetable plants are totally inadequate in preventing
landslides.
In addition, the alien wattle
and eucalyptus trees cover over 9,775 ha and 5,150 ha respectively.
Their prime purpose has been to supply raw material for South India
Viscose, who held a 99-year lease. Nothing grows beneath these trees,
which have only served to drive away the natural wildlife, and drunk
up the ground water reserves.
Several development projects
rang the death knell for the Nilgiris. Locating the Hindustan Photo
Films in the Nilgiris was a suicidal and ridiculous attempt by former
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a resource-guzzling white elephant.
Thousands of hectares of forestland and grasslands were destroyed to
build the factories and the homes for the staff, an unnecessary effort
as the company (a PSU) died a natural death. The relocation of the repatriate
Tamils from Sri Lanka in the Nilgiris following the Sirimavo Bandarnaike-Lal
Bahadur Shastri pact was another act of suicide, as the population shot
up, resulting in the establishment of TANTEA to provide them work by
converting more forest land to tea gardens. Neither the repatriates
nor the ecology benefited from that attempt.
The Pykara Ultimate Stage
Hydro Electric Project (PUSHEP) was yet another disaster. Apart from
the expansion of the hydroelectric project in prime forestland, 7000
people were settled in Masinagudi and transported daily to PUSHEP across
the elephant corridor. Companies like the Government Cordite Factory,
Protein Products India and Needle Industries have also contributed to
the degradation of the Nilgiris, by the conversion of forest to factories
and the pollution of air, land and water. The consequent population
pressure has created slums out of the beautiful hill stations of Ooty
and Coonoor.
The destruction of wildlife
is unforgivable. It all started with the trigger-happy British hunters,
followed, after Independence, by trigger-happy Indian poachers. Habitat
loss, increases in population, and pressure on land, water and other
natural resources have made the tiger a rarity, the tusker impossibility.
The elephant corridor is heavily encroached, making migration extremely
difficult for these huge pachyderms. Poaching has taken a heavy toll
of wildlife.
Life is not a cozy affair
for the original tribal inhabitants of the Nilgiris as well. Alcoholism
is rampant and their population is decreasing. Their ancient inter-tribal
barter system has broken down and they lack the skills to make them
employable. With the exception of the Badagas who are educated and prosperous,
the rest have been dispossessed of their land. They have become objects
of curiosity for gawking tourists, but have been unable to derive any
benefit from the tourism industry, unlike locals elsewhere. Governments
and the people have destroyed the Nilgiris in their greed to exploit
its resources and treasures. But the Nilgiris are the major watershed
for South India, serving three states. If they go, so will our biodiversity,
our natural resources, our water catchments, our life giving rains.
The survival of the South is heavily dependant on the Nilgiris.
(This article is part of
a media fellowship awarded by national Foundation for India)
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