By Maj. Gen. (Retd.)  S.G. Vombatkere

Kodagu is the land of brave warriors who have sacrificed the best years of their lives and often enough, their very lives, in protecting our country. These people are now fighting to save their homelands from destructive mega-projects.

A movement, led by Coorg Wildlife Society President Colonel (Retd.) C.P. Muthanna, to protect Kodagu district from the effects of destructive development of the Mysuru-Thalassery Railway line passing through Kodagu, comprises large numbers of veterans and civilians, as also Kodavas from the district who reside outside of their home district. And now, they are being joined by many others who are not Kodavas, but who understand the reason behind the opposition.

Perhaps one project by itself may not immediately show the ill-effects of deforestation, which is inevitable with every project. But the cumulative effect of deforestation for one project after another is already showing – there is confirmed reduction in the flow of Cauvery River, which does not reach the Bay of Bengal for two months in the year. In yesteryears, Cauvery was a beautiful perennial river and the source of life and sustenance for the millions upon millions of Cauvery’s children in Kodagu, the districts of South Karnataka, and large portions of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. But now Cauvery’s children fight among themselves for water.

Even before this current agitation against the railway line, there was spirited opposition to the Mysuru-Kozhikode 400 KV high-tension power transmission line passing through Kodagu, and the opposition was for the same reasons. Sadly, the assault on Cauvery is intensifying with reports that other similar mega-projects affecting Kodagu district are on the anvil, supposedly to serve economic interests.

But now, there is an awakening that Cauvery herself needs to be saved from environmentally destructive mega projects. It is unfortunate that government authorities and the proponents of such mega-projects have either not understood the long-term effects of such large-scale deforestation, or are in thrall of the politician-contractor nexus which benefits from such projects.

As one activist put it succinctly, every drop of water that one gets (including borewell water) is from the catchment of Cauvery and its tributaries, and hence saving Cauvery by stopping the destructive Mysuru-Thalassery Railway line is the rightful business, nay duty, of everybody, in their own interest and the interest of future generations.

The people of Mysuru and its environs are entirely dependent for Cauvery water. They need to strongly support the agitation planned for Feb. 18 by turning out in large numbers to hold a peaceful agitation which will succeed in stopping the Mysuru-Thalassery Railway project and shelving it permanently.

The agitators can take heart from the successful peaceful agitation in 2007-08 by the people of Mysuru and rural areas against the Rs. 5,500-crore 1,000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant which was proposed to be constructed at Chamalapura in H.D. Kote. That agitation was for reasons of loss of people’s livelihoods, the environmental destruction that the power plant would have wreaked, and the water used which would have been denied to farmers. The fact that Mysuru still enjoys blue skies and relatively clean air is the People’s Victory at Chamalapura.

After the Chamalapura project was dropped, the people who had spear-headed the agitations along with the people of Chamalapura, installed a “Vijayagallu” on the hillock at Chamalapura on 24th  July 2010, to commemorate the victory of people’s opinion and people’s power against the government-corporate nexus. In a significant display of people’s power, the stone also very simply warns “any government of the future” not to undertake such destructive, anti-people projects. A translation of the words on the Victory Stone reads thus: The Chamalapura Ushnavidyut Sthavara Virodhi Horata Samithi (Committee for Opposing the Chamalapura Thermal Power Plant) has placed this commemorative stone as a symbol of people’s victory against the Karnataka Government’s proposed Chamalapura Thermal Power Plant Project (2007-2008) that would have completely destroyed nature’s life forms, forest wealth, wildlife, environment and people’s lives and livelihoods.

All the people who participated in the movement against the Chamalapura Thermal Power Plant hereby warn any government that may come in the future, not to undertake such destructive, anti-people projects.

Save the environment; protect nature’s abundance

The peaceful but forceful agitation to stop and shelve the destructive Mysuru-Thalassery Railway line will surely succeed with mass-participation to wake up the sleeping, insensitive authorities.

Hopefully one day, we will see a ‘Vijayagallu’ erected somewhere in Kodagu to commemorate yet another victory of we the people acting peacefully in their own interest.

[Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired as Additional DG Discipline & Vigilance in Army HQ AG’s Branch. His area of interest is strategic and development-related issues. He is a member of MGP, NAPM and PUCL and also a member of Govt. of Karnataka-constituted Heritage Expert Committee, Mysuru.]