The proposal by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for widening the Kumta-Sirsi Road — which passes through the Sharavathy Valley Wildlife Sanctuary — has secured in-principle approval, putting more pressure on the biodiversity hotspot threatened by several development projects.
About 1.5 km of the 59 km road between Sirsi-Kumta passes through the sanctuary, where the KPTCL is already drilling for a survey for the proposed 2000 MW pumped storage electricity project.
According to the NHAI, the road will be widened into a two-lane road with paved shoulders but will come at the cost of green cover.
As per the proposal, more than 10,185 trees will be cut and about 52 acres of forest land in Honnavar and Sirsi division will be diverted for road work. Officials have also proposed earth cutting works in the ghat section.
The proposal is aimed at establishing better port connectivity through the Western Ghats. In another section, the NHAI is widening the 4 km road between Belekeri and Hattikeri.
The Regional Expert Committee, which had discussed the project twice earlier, has given in-principle approval with several conditions after getting a mitigation plan. The width of the road in the ghat section was also reduced.
However, cutting more than 1.2 acres in Devimane Ghat and 0.5 acres in Bandal Ghat has been seen as necessary. “Cutting at some points cannot be avoided” to facilitate turning of multi-axle vehicles.
A member of the committee said the project will disturb the wildlife in the sanctuary, whose area was extended to 93,016 hectares to protect the endangered lion tailed macaque.
“The mere increase in traffic flow itself will come as a major nuisance. After we insisted on reducing the impact, the road width came down. This has helped avoiding diversion of 9 more acres,” he said, adding that disturbing the landscape will further aggravate the problems in the Western Ghats which is facing landslides every year.
To a question, K P Singh, chairman of the committee, said that all precautions have been taken to mitigate the project impact.
“The REC had ensured that the project authority reduces the width of the road in ghats which reduced the diversion of land in such areas by 3.67 ha. We will also ensure no cutting will take place in the ghat section. Mitigation measures proposed by the chief wildlife warden will be implemented,” he said.