Saandhu
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Abstract
Thadagam Valley is part of Periyanaickan Palayam Block of Coimbatore North Taluka, of Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a valley located in the Western Ghats and is part of the Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghat Elephant Landscape and Coimbatore Elephant Reserve (Elephant Reserve No.8). It has been identified as one of the important migratory routes the elephants of Coimbatore Elephant Reserve. It is also the location where Sanganur Stream, a major tributary of Noyyal River originates. Four revenue villages are located in the valley. Thadagam Reserve Forest - designated as an ESA - surrounds these villages. Out of these four, three are HACA (Hill Area Conservation Authority) designated villages and one (24 Veerapandi) is an ESA (Eco-Sensitive Area) designated village.
This paper discusses about the damages caused to these HACA and ESA villages by the illegal brick kiln clusters. The Elephant migratory route, the Sanganur Stream, the human, animal and plant population of the valley remain severely affected by the illegal brick industrial cluster operating here for the past quarter century. While quantifying the production capacity of the industry over the years, the paper describes the extent of damages caused by this production on the physical environment around and its resident life forms. It proposes the necessary mitigatory measures - legal, administrative and scientific - that would be required to correct these damages. Declaring the entire valley as Ecologically Sensitive Area is the first important step in this corrective process. Funds for all the corrective steps need to be collected from the Polluters based on Polluter Pays principle.
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Thadagam Valley is an east facing valley located in the Western Ghats. It has an area of about 60 sq.km and is flanked in the north, west and east by Thadagam Reserve Forest coming under Coimbatore Forest Division. Sanganur stream, a major tributary of Noyyal River originates here. There are 4 Revenue Villages inside this valley belonging to Periyanaickan Palayam Block of Coimbatore North Taluka. They are:
1.24.Veerapandi
2. Chinna Thadagam
3.22 Nanjundapuram
4. Pannimadai
South of these villages lie Somayampalayam Revenue Village facing similar issues.
These villages have a population of about 70 Thousand in the year 2021.
All these villages (excepting Pannimadai) were considered Ecologically Fragile by Tamil Nadu Government in 1990 and were declared as villages coming under Hill Area Conservation authority (HACA). (1)
Kasturirangan Committee had identified Thadagam reserve Forest and 24 Veerapandi Village as Ecologically Sensitive Areas and this was notified in the Gazette by MoEF. (2)
This valley is part of the Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghat Elephant Landscape and the Coimbatore Elephant Reserve.
In the year 2007, B.Ramakrishnan’s doctoral thesis had identified the presence of an elephant corridor and named it as Anaikatti Veerapandi Corridor. This corridor lies between 76°45"8'-76°53"56' N and 11°10"50'-11°5"25' E in the Western part of the Coimbatore District and is bounded in the north by Periyanaickan Palayam Range, in the south by Anuvavi Subramanian Koil, east by Chinna Thadagam and west by Anaikatti Village. This corridor begins at Mukkali (within the state of Tamil Nadu), Anaikatti linking Periyanaickan Palayam Range in the eastern portion and Bolampatti Range in the South. The length of the corridor is 21 km and effective width ranges from 0.1 to 1.5 km.This finding was accepted and recorded in the Report published by the ENVIS Centre of the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu in 2015 . (3,4)
Rain fed crops like cholam, castor, ragi, kambu, horse gram, groundnut, tinai, samai etc.,were cultivated in the valley for centuries. Agriculture was supplemented by grazing. This land use started changing slowly from 1960s. Rain fed lands were slowly converted into well irrigated farm lands that started growing banana, coconut and sugarcane. However, even in 1980s their share was minimal.
Illegal Brick Kilns were erected in these lands from early 1990s. From 1995 to 2005 they spread through the valley slowly. From 2000 onwards, mechanical excavators and tipper lorries came into use. From 2006, mechanisation and availability of capital industrialised this activity. Mega Brick Kiln and Quarry Clusters were established in the valley . These mega sized quarries were opened adjacent to the foothills. As there were no accessible roads, stream beds were used to reach them. Hence, the thumb rule was to open quarries in the stream corridors and the patta lands nearby. Lakhs of tipper lorries and mechanical excavators plying on these stream beds to reach the quarries have destroyed them beyond recognition. They chose to operate illegally till they were closed down by Court Order on 19.3.2021.
This is the only valley in Coimbatore District having Colluvial soil as the valley fill. These deposits form steep slopes from the foothills to the centre of the valley. They are criss crossed by 8 stream networks that join to become Sanganur Stream at the centre of the valley. The 24 km long Sanganur Stream is one of the major tributaries of Noyyal River which in turn is a tributary of River Cauvery. Cutting across the Coimbatore city diagonally, it drains into the Singanallur lake located at the South Eastern corner of the city. Since time immemorial, this stream was known for flooding incidences. Floods in this stream in the year 1710 had destroyed a village named Krishnarayapuram located on its banks and had forced its people to establish new villages in the uplands nearby. These newly established villages are the present day Peelamedu, Avarampalayam of Coimbatore city. 1n 1980s, a 200 acre artificial reservoir was established 7 kilometres east of the valley at Chinnavedampatti to divert and store the flood waters of the stream. This reservoir filled a few times in 1990s, only to remain dry from the year 2000 on.
In the period between 1995 to 2020, the brick kiln operators had excavated 325 Quarries in the stream corridors, causing a permanent damage to the stream flow. Mega sized quarries, about thrice this number, have been dug in the adjutant patta lands. What is unique about Thadagam valley landscape is that it is impossible for the brick industry to exist here with out converting the numerous stream beds as the roads for its mechanical excavators, tippers, lorries and tractors. Without converting stream beds as roads it is impossible for these vehicles to ply between the quarries, kilns and moulding sheds located in practically inaccessible locations.
Usage of the dry stream beds as roads by tipper lorries and mechanical excavators to reach the quarries, has compacted the stream beds permanently causing irreparable damage to the stream bed ecosystem. It has also augmented the intensity of erosion and this is an area already prone for heavy erosion. In addition to this, the stream bed of the 5th order Sanganur stream had been mined illegally in the period between 2015 and 2016 in the name of farmers dredging the alluvial soil for farming; this has created deep pits in the main stream course. All these factors were responsible for the dwindling stream flow that could not reach Kanuvai Check dam (7th kilo meter point in the total stretch of 24 kilo meters) in the height of the heavy rains of October-November 2021, an event that exposed the extent of damage that the stream networks and waterbodies of this valley has suffered thus far in the hands of illegal brick making mafia.
It is important to note here that these quarries were established in a region designated as a region prone for heavy erosion by Bhuvan.(5)
Five zones of erosion inside the valley have been mapped. These zones are said to be prone to Gully, Rill and Sheet Erosions.
The mega sized quarries in the foothills are located on the path of the the elephant corridor. Quarries had not only destroyed the stream beds, their corridors and stream flow but also the elephant corridor. This destruction had disturbed the elephant herd movement from Periyanaickan Palayam Range to the Nilambur Elephant Reserve in the west and to the Boluvampatti Range in the south. The traditional path that the elephants used in the steep slopes of the Thadagam valley colluvial deposits were destroyed and hence they had to find newer paths. They used the stream beds as their new paths which intern was used by the illegal brick kiln operators as roads. 177 Mammoth Brick Kilns and hundreds of brick moulding sheds each occupying 50,000 - 3,00,000 square feet of land (all constructed illegally without any permission from LPA and flouting HACA rules and ESA) obstructed their free movement. Brick making that went non stop even at night had created an ideal climate for Human Elephant Conflict. All these factors were responsible for the maximum number of human deaths and crop raids in the Thadagam Valley (Periyanaicken Palayam Range, Coimbatore Range, Maruthamalai portion of Boluvampatti range) when compared to other ranges of Coimbatore Forest Division.
Out of the 140 Human Elephant Conflict deaths that were reported in the Coimbatore Forest Division for the 10 year period 2010-2021, 53 deaths (38%) had occurred in the forest ranges where in Thadagam valley is located (6) . The number of deaths showed a sharp increase in the years 2019 and 2020. In these two years alone, 14 people had died in the Thadagam valley due to HEC. An earlier study by K.Ramkumar et al., conducted for the period between 1999 to 2014, (7) revealed that out of the total 96 deaths, 41 (43%) deaths have occurred in the Coimbatore and Periyanaickanpalayam Ranges of Coimbatore Forest Division.
The number of elephant deaths in the forest ranges where Thadagam Valley is located is also very high. The same 2014 study by Ramkumar et al., has found that out of 133 elephants that had died between 1998 and 2014, 44 (33%) elephants have died in this area. For the period between 2010 and 2021, out of the 146 elephant deaths that had occurred in the Coimbatore Forest Division, 41 (28%) have died in these forest ranges. (8)
B.Ramakrishnan et al’s 2014 study on crop raiding by elephants in Coimbatore Forest Division (9) found the maximum number of incidences happening inside this valley (46 out of 436 crop raids) highlights the immensity of problems faced by ordinary citizens (especially tribal folk who live inside or adjacent to the forest) and elephants.
These findings highlight the increased number of Human and Elephant deaths due to HEC happening in the Thadagam valley and its increasing trend over the years. It is important to note here that not a single case of HEC death has occurred since 19 March 2021 when the District administration had closed and sealed all these illegally operating brick industrial units under the orders of the Madras High Court. Ramkumar et al’s research paper on the Impact of Land Use Land Cover Change in the Elephant Migratory Route of the Coimbatore Forest Division (10) between 1990 and 2010 revealed that till 1990s the lands in the Elephant Migratory Route were barren even though much of them were in private holding. This trend changed in the middle of 1990s, when these were transferred for other uses. In Thadagam Valley, these lands were transferred for mining brick earth. The deep quarries dug in the elephant migratory route and the activities going on in and around them have challenged the elephants like never before.
Apart from the inflicting damages to the stream beds, stream and elephant corridors, the illegal brick industry have imposed wide ranging detrimental health effects on the local people.
As per Court Orders (11) “brick kilns should be located preferably 2 km away from residential areas and fruit gardens; installation should not be allowed in sensitive areas as notified by State Pollution control Boards under National Air Quality standards; the distance between two kilns should be more than one kilometer”. The 177 kilns located in Thadagam valley are in clusters with many located inside or just outside the villages and without any space between each other.
It is estimated that 325 quarries with an area of 1400 acres exist in the stream corridors of the valley. (12) (This estimate does not include the quarries that exist in the stream corridors in Somayampalayam revenue village; this is yet to be calculated). K.Mohanraj has estimated the quarried area in the non stream patta lands and Vinobha bhoomi dhan lands for 5 revenue villages. His estimate is 3803 acres.(13) (This is a conservative estimate).
|
Revenue Village |
Quarried Area (Acres) |
|
24-Veerapandi |
1590 |
|
Chinnathadagam |
1173 |
|
22 Nanjundapuram |
452 |
|
Pannimadai |
86 |
|
Somayampalayam |
502 |
|
Total |
3803 |
Hence, I shall calculate the two decade long impact of the brick industry on the valley using this (yet to be verified in the ground) acreage of 4200 acres (quarries present in the stream and non stream areas).
It is estimated that 2.25 Crore Cu.m of red earth has been mined from the stream corridor quarries. This should have produced about 1130 Crore bricks in 15 years (2006-2021). To transport them to brick moulding/drying sheds , to kilns and then to the market about 2 Crore sorties of tipper and lorry trips would have been necessary. For baking the bricks about 30 lakh tons of fuel wood, cashew husk, rubber, engine oil would haven used and this would have required 1.5 lakh lorries to carry them to the kilns through the dry stream beds. (14)
When this value is extrapolated to the quarries located in patta and bhoomi dhan lands, about 3400 Crore bricks would have been produced from them requiring 90 lakh tons of fuel wood and cashew husk. Production and distribution of these bricks would have required the use of 6 Crore tippers and lorries.
All these operations would have required at least 3400 Crore litres of underground water to be pumped. Bore wells were sunk by the illegal brick kiln operators without taking any permission from the local authorities. Bore well license is mandatory since the valley is located in Periyanaickan Palayam block of Coimbatore District which is designated as a block where ground water is over exploited.(15) From the year 2010 onwards, after the surge in brick production, the numerous perennial springs located in the forest boundary and inside the forest have flowed less or had dried up.(16) This has caused the elephants in their migratory path to seek water inside the valley. As water was available in plenty in the large brick moulding/drying sheds each occupying 3,00,000 sq.ft., elephant herds entered them, thus increasing the chances of HEC. Added to this was the practice of using Palmyra wood as fuel in the brick kilns, which attracted elephants like magnet. Forest Department had warned the Brick industry against its usage multiple times. However, the industry stood adamant in ignoring the advice.
The valley is a horse shoe shaped enclosure with an opening in the east. It is bounded by steep hills in the north and south with less steep hills in the west. Winds of South West Monsoon enter the valley through the Attappadi plateau located in the west, and circulate inside the valley. North East Monsoon enters the valley from the east and circulates inside the valley. During summer, the valley floor is heated up causing air to expand and flow up the slopes sometimes triggering thunderstorms over the mountains. Nighttime land-surface radiation cools the slopes, causing cooler, denser air to drain into the valley.
The pollutants that would have emanated from burning 1.2 crore tons of fuel wood, cashew husk, rubber and engine oil and the flue gases from 8 crore lorries would interacted with the meteorological processes of the valley; Dust emanating from quarrying and kiln operations would add to these air pollutants. These pollutants ultimately settle down on the valley floor, thus polluting water, land plants and all other life forms.
Dr.R.Ramesh MBBS, a physician who is working among the people of the area for the past 25 years has made the following observation about the changing disease scape among the humans living in the valley. He had been demanding the Government to conduct studies that might link the excessive :
“From 2000 to 2005 considerable number of people in the valley have started getting tumours under their skins. Even though these tumours did not cause them any immediate harm, their diagnosis, cause and long term implications are yet to be studied. From 2005 to 2010, the number of people suffering from Type II Diabetes increased exponentially. This was slowly followed, in the same period by the onset of a number of cases of Oro Pharyngeal Cancers, gastro intestinal cancers and cancers of respiratory system almost all them fatal. From 2010 to 2015, people started suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease started increasing leading to many deaths. All these increases and deaths were equally seen among all the castes and classes; however, the number of male victims were higher than females.”
Overexploitation of ground water, increased emission of flue gas, fuel wood smoke, cashew husk, low grade coal, rubber and engine oil smokes should have polluted the valley environment. They might be the cause for the above noted diseases. Government should be directed to conduct scientific studies on this.
Water, Elephant and Eco-system Fertility
Thadagam Valley was known for its Sanganur Stream and Sanganur stream was known for its flash floods. It is formed by 8 stream networks that flow through the colluvial deposits of the valley. Soil and Land Use Survey of India’s Micro Watershed Atlas of India (SLUSI) has identified 6 micro watersheds for this stream. (17) (4B2C5b1, 4B2C5b2, 4B2C5b3, 4B2C5b4, 4B2V5b5, 4B2C5b6). Out of these 6 micro watersheds, 4 are located completely within the valley, one is partially inside the valley (4B2C5b5) and the remaining micro watershed (4B2C5b6) is completely outside the valley.
Historically, the people who have inhabited the valley never attempted to tame the stream (Like the creation of Neeli Canal and Ukkulam Lake in the neighbouring Vannathangarai Micro-watershed [in Boluvampatty basin] of Noyyal River). The largest waterbody in the valley is Ponni Eri located in Chinna Thadagam Village and receives its water not from the mountain streams but from two first order streams that originate from the foothills. Bandari Kuttai, Dhasakavundan Kuttai, Dhoddubasavan Kuttai are some of the many small pools that remain scattered across the valley (18) are also the pools that are located in the streams that originate in the foothills. They have served the cattle, sheep, goats and wildlife for centuries.
The hills around the valley and the foothills are replete with perennial springs. Ponn uthu and Anubavi are the two well known springs. Mel bavi, Keel bavi, Man bavi, Karupparayankovil bavi, Naathukaadu bavi, Karumparai bavi, Moolakadu bavi, Kadalarasi bavi, Maamarathupallam bavi are the other springs of the valley. They have served humans and the wildlife from prehistorical times. Habitations have depended on these springs.
Wells were rarely dug. Well-irrigation started only from 1960s and did not find many takers till 1990. The earliest well was at Forest Guesthouse located at Mangarai and was dug by the British Government. It was used for the people involved in coupe forestry.
Large scale ground water extraction started after the brick kiln operations commenced inside the valley in 1990s. By the end of 2010, when the ground water extraction had reached very high levels, the perennial springs inside the forest and in the forest boundary started drying up. Ground water levels went down. Majority of the small pools that have served the cattle and sheep for centuries were razed down by the industry’s hunger for brick earth, thus changing the hydrological regime of the valley completely.
Digging the stream beds for sand and gravel, digging the stream corridors for brick earth and using the stream beds as roads for more than two decades changed the structure and function of the streams. They were no longer able to flow in their original course; they were diverted into large pits thus unable to flow with the previous vigour and volume; they could not cross even one third of their length.
Thus, the micro watersheds inside the valley remain critically damaged. Singanallur Lake and Chinnavedampatti Reservoir have lost their watershed (at least for now). Meanwhile, Coimbatore Corporation is currently venturing on a multi crore project to beautify the 6th and the final micro watershed of Sanganur stream under Smart city programme without knowing the crisis that the stream has been subjected to.This project should put a hold on this work immediately. It should be reviewed in the backdrop of the whole issue that the stream is suffering from. Unless this is done, Coimbatore City would have lost one of its major ground water recharging resource forever.
As Sanganur Stream, one of the major tributaries of Noyyal River remains severed from it, the chances of reviving Noyyal becomes more difficult. This might have a very serious bearing on the future of Cauvery River.
Thadagam Valley hosts one of the important elephant migratory routes. By connecting Periya Naicken Palayam Range with Silent Valley-Nilambur Reserve in the west and Boluvampatty Range in the south it functions as one of the important migratory routes of the Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghat Elephant Landscape in general and Coimbatore Elephant Reserve in particular.
The topography of Thadagam valley differs markedly from other valleys of the Coimbatore Forest Division. It is the only valley with a colluvial valley fill. It is because of this, the gradient of the valley floor from the foothills to the centre of the valley is steeper than the valley floor of the other valleys of the Elephant Reserve. Hence, elephants find it more difficult to cross this terrain. However, over eons they have an established migratory route through this terrain. Ramkumar et al’s research on Land Use Land Cover change in this Forest Division between 1990-2010 informs us that there was no Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) before 1990. Elephants have acclimatised themselves to this difficult terrain. However, when the brick industry got established in the valley, their acclimatisation to the terrain was challenged from many fronts:
- Mega size Quarries with steep slopes were dug in the migratory routes causing the elephants to explore newer paths,
- Increased extraction of ground water had dried up the springs inside the forest and foothill, thus forcing the herd to search for new sources of water,
- Large sized water tanks built inside the brick moulding sheds were the magnets that attracted the herds
- Added to this, when the Palmyrah wood was used in the kilns for baking the bricks, its pith was thrown away usually; elephants were attracted by the fermented pith; consuming the pith they got intoxicated only to behave anomalously, thus escalating HEC
- The newer paths to the water resources were the stream beds. These beds were the primary roads of the brick industry. These stream bed became the paths of intense conflict.
- Brick industry learned very quickly to use mechanical excavators, tippers and lorries to chase away the elephants from the dry stream beds. Using high powered focus lights, horns, throwing fire crackers from these off road vehicles and finally intimidating the animals by fighting with them with these machines became the standard practices of the industry in engaging the elephants.
- Like the humans of the brick industry, elephants also learned quickly. Two behavioural patterns emerged. One was the usual fight or flight behaviour found in such situations; the other behaviour was unique to Thadagam valley and may even be named as Thadagam Elephant Syndrome.
- Some of the elephants (usually the ones transforming from sub adult to adult) have learned to expect the array of actions (and their timings) that would usually be mounted upon them by the brick industry. They soon developed new behaviours that would overcome these actions easily. They knew that when these actions were overcome successfully, they would have the reward of food and water in plenty. This focus made them forget the traditional migratory routes and home range and made them very different from their fellow elephants. Chinnathambi, a 25 year old elephant of the Thadagam Valley is the iconic example of this new breed of elephants.(19)
- “Engage the humans playfully, do not harm them physically, tire them out in these engagements, and when they retreat at night hours sneak peek into a new premise silently and relish the food and water that is available in plenty” became their policy. Farmlands in the valley, thus became more vulnerable to elephants with such a changed behaviour pattern; and when they were found and chased, they further developed a new habit of wandering to far away lands (from their traditional migratory routes) only to end up in still more thickly populated human habitations.
- The two decade long brick industry engagements with the elephants using large automobiles had increased Human Elephant Conflict exponentially in the local area. In addition, they have produced a breed of elephants that have lost (at least partially) the memory of habitat, home range and migratory route to become long distance wanderers inside human habitations.
It is because of these reasons, research studies on Crop Raid and HEC deaths by Ramkumar et al., in 2014 showed that these were very high in Thadagam valley compared to other areas of Coimbatore Forest Division.
Village folks were wary of the brick industry by 2010. They started petitioning against the brick kilns to various departments like Forest department, Revenue Department, Pollution Control Board, Mining department and the Police Department. They had sent petitions to the District Collector, Chef Minister, the Governor and the President of India. There was no actions from any of them. So, some of them decided to approach the Court of Law. The District Collector called for a peace committee on 30.8.2009, to sort the conflict between the people and the illegal brick kiln operators. Nothing happened.
The District Collector of Coimbatore ordered the closure of all the illegal brick kilns in the valley (erroneously thought to be 141 in number then, which was corrected to 186 later based on the information provided by the conservationists) on 29.10.2019 and warned the kiln operators of criminal proceedings if the order was not complied with. (20) However, the kiln operators chose not to comply with the order and continued their work as usual. Surprisingly, the District administration did not pursue the issue and did not slap criminal proceedings against them.
It is a sad fact that it was in this period (year 2020) the illegal brick industry decided to act with its full might. The activity was frantic between May and December 2020. In these 8 months period 8 people had died due to Human Elephant Conflict, the sole reason being the frantic activity of the brick kiln operators had agitated the elephants forcing them to attack ordinary folks. (21)
The Madras High Court ordered the complete closure of all the illegal brick kilns on 06.01.2021; This order was not obeyed. The District authorities did not act. The Court issued a second order again on 10.2.2021. This was also not complied with. The District authorities decided to remain silent. Agitations staged by Farmers and Conservationists finally forced the them to act. Closure and sealing of kilns started on 19.3.2021 and was completed on 25.3.2021. However two mega brick factories had eluded the disconnection of electricity line for 9 months. The electricity authorities finally disconnected electrical connection on 4.12.2021.
Thadagam valley is very different after the closure of the brick kilns on 19.3.2021. Elephants still wander into habitations but not a single instance of human Elephant Conflict has been reported inside the valley over the past 10 months (till January 2022). Renewed vegetation is seen in the deep quarries and other barren lands. Elephant herds rest under thick growth of Prosopis juliflora eating their pods. They transport these and other seeds all over the valley and are already fertilising the barren lands at night. Dung beetles that were rarely seen in the valley for the past many years have returned and are at work. Unlike us humans who are still debating about what to do with the valley that is sick, the keynote species is already at work to heal the valley.
Conclusion
Out of the 6 micro watersheds of Sanganur Stream identified by the Soil and Land Use Survey of India, five are located within the Thadagam Valley and remain destroyed by an illegal brick industry operating there for the past 25 years. This has led to the stoppage of stream flow in Sanganur stream. This has placed a big question mark on the future of the farm lands dependent on the waters of Chinnavedampatti reservoir; it has also put a question mark on the health of Singanallur Lake, the natural drain of the stream, which in turn is bound to have a severe impact on the ground water potential of Coimbatore City.
One of the important migratory paths of the Coimbatore Elephant Reserve and the Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats Elephant Landscape remains mutilated at Thadagam Valley by the actions of an illegal brick industry over the last quarter century. The continued engagement of the elephants by the brick kiln operators over decades using large sized off road vehicles has in fact trained the keystone species (22) to forget its traditional routes of migration and home range to wander over unknown lands. Chinna Thambi elephant of Thadagam Valley is the iconic example of this training. Farmers and ordinary citizens have lost their crops and lives because of this changed behaviour. This has put an immense pressure on the already stressed State Forest Department.The repercussions of such a trained behaviour in an endangered keystone species would not only prove lethal to the species alone but to an entire ecosystem that is dependant on it. Hence, the attitude and the actions of the illegal brick industry on the elephants should not be considered in isolation but should be seen as an assault on an entire ecosystem.
The workings of the illegal brick industry in Thadagam valley over a quarter century as a cluster,(23) has had a detrimental effect on the health of the resident human population. It has also affected all other life forms of the valley severely.
The damage done to Thadagam Valley should not be seen as a loot and loss of a minor mineral alone. It should be seen as a quarter century long continued grievous assault on a stream network, on a keystone species of an ecosystem, on the health of a resident human, animal and plant population.
The damaged stream networks, elephant dependant ecosystem and human and animal lives need to be compensated and re built in the first place. The compensation should be collected entirely from the illegal brick industry assaulters.
Such assaults should not be allowed legally in the future. As a first step to prevent such in the future, the entire valley should be declared as an Ecologically Sensitive Area. Anaikatti-Veerapandi Elephant Migratory Route should be notified as an Elephant Corridor immediately.
A buffer zone of 2 km from the Thadagam Reserve Forest boundary should be established. Patta of all the quarried lands in the valley should be cancelled forthwith and they be declared as Government land. Farm lands and barren lands located in the buffer zone should be purchased by the Government. Buildings and institutions in this buffer zone should be banned and translocated. Cost for all this should be recovered from the illegal brick industry operators.
Quarry pits inside this buffer zone and elsewhere should be approached based on three points:
- Preventing leakage from the stream into quarry pits
- Reshaping the quarry pit slope safe for wild animals
- Converting some of the quarry pits as waterholes for animals
The streams have suffered corridor and bed based injuries. A multidisciplinary panel consisting of geographers, fluvial geomorphologists, ecologists, biologists should be constituted immediately to assess the nature of injuries and provide the necessary solutions. (24) This study should not restrict itself to the micro watersheds inside the valley alone, but should study the micro watershed of the Sanganur Stream located outside the valley.Any developmental work being carried out in any of the micro watershed of Sanganur Stream should be temporarily halted till this study is completed. Cost to this and the implementation of the proposed solutions should be collected from the illegal brick industry operators.
A community health expert panel that includes local physicians should be constituted to study and document the health issues suffered by the local resident human population. Two similar panel of experts should be established, one with veterinarians and the other with agriculture and plant scientists to assess and document the problems suffered by the animal,wildlife and plant populations of the valley. Solutions proposed by these panels should be implemented strictly. Cost to the study and implementation should be recovered from the illegal brick industry operators.
The mega sized brick moulding/drying sheds blocking the pathway of wildlife should be demolished.
Usage of Stream beds by off road vehicles should be banned. (25) Offenders should be punished severely.
Brick kiln operators who had used poramboke lands, Vinobha Bhoomi Dhan lands, Temple lands should be punished under criminal law.
It needs to be remembered that 24 Veerapandi Revenue Village located in the valley is already a designated ESA. Sadly, it also the home to 60% of the micro watersheds of the Sanganur Stream that remain damaged by the illegal industry. Hence, robust administrative frameworks that would ensure the safety of ESA should be constituted.
Appreciative administrative mechanisms needs to be promulgated; officials who relentlessly work to safeguard ESA should be promoted and awarded. However, those officials who would join hands with illegal assaulters of the environment should be punished severely.
When this happens, a very fertile ecosystem would have bloomed, whose nectar would be offering immense, endless joy to elephants, all wildlife and humans.
…………………………..
1. G.O.Ms.No.44 Dated:2.4.1990; G.O. MS.NO.49, DATED:24.03.2003; ANNEXURE-I TO G.O.Ms. NO.49 DATED 24-03-2003
2. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE NOTIFICATION dated 3rd October, 2018 - S.O. 5135(E)
3. ENVIS Centre of the Department of Environment, Government of Tamil Nadu, “District Environmental Profile for Eco Sensitive Areas in Tamil Nadu Western Region (Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Karur and Erode) in March 2015
4. In the year 2014, two research papers authored by K.Ramkumar, B.Ramakrishnan and R.Saravanamuthu on Human Elephant Conflict and Crop Damage in the Coimbatore Forest Division were published. Both these papers mention that the Coimbatore Forest Division which is a part of Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats Landscape, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and Elephant Reserve No.8 have an area of 694 Sq.Km. It has a sizeable elephant population and is a viable habitat. More than 20% of the area of the reserve forest serve as viable corridor for the movement of elephants between Silent Valley National Park (Western Ghats, Kerala) and Eastern Ghats and vice-versa. This division shares a boundary length of about 350 km between human habitations and farm lands. The movement of elephants is mostly restricted to foothills due to escarpment of steep slope on the west and human habitations on the east. These factors, the studies state, are responsible for the higher level of Human Elephant Conflict in this division compared to other largely populated elephant habitats in South India. Highest crop raiding incidences were recorded in Periyanaickan Palayam Range. Out of the 438 crop fields studied in 32 Grama Panchayats (during November 2008 to April 2009), Odanthurai (of Mettupalayam Range) was worst affected with 32 crop fields, Mathvarayapuram (of Boluvampatti Range) with 25 fields, 22 Nanjundapuram and 24 Veerapandi (of PN Palayam Range) with 23 each (46 put together). Family herds were more responsible for the crop damage (66-75%) than solitary males (25-34%) irrespective of crops and forest ranges. Presence of constructional development activities, hilly topography with suitable elephant habitat available only in the foothills, preference of family herds to use less gradient foothills and cultivation of an elephant attracting crop Sorghum are stated as the reasons for this issue. 77% of the people living in and around the forest areas were settled for many generations. 12% were second generation settlers and the remaining 11% the new comers.
5. https://bhuvan-vec2.nrsc.gov.in/bhuvan/wms (ID:5294 erosion:TN_ERO50K_0506)
6. RTI data from Forest department dated 17.8.2021 obtained by Thadagam S.Ganesh அலுவலகக் கடித எண் ப2/5524/2021
7. K.Ramkumar, B.Ramakrishnan, S.Karthick, R.Saravanamuthu, “Human and Elephant (Elephas maximus) deaths due to conflict in Coimbatore Forest Division, Tamil Nadu India”, in Zoo’s Print, Volume XXIX, Number 8 August 2014
8. RTI data from Forest department dated 17.8.2021 obtained by Thadagam S.Ganesh அலுவலகக் கடித எண் ப2/5524/2021
9. B.Ramakrishnan et al., “Crop Damage by Asian Elephants Elephas maximus and Effectiveness of Mitigating Measures in Coimbatore Forest Division, India, in In.Res.J.Biological Sci., Vol(38), 1-11, August 2014
10. K.Ramkumar, B.ramakrishnan R.Saravanamuthu, “Consequences of land use land cover changes in elephant migratory route of Coimbatore Forest Division, tamil Nadu, India”, in International Symposium on Ecology and Health Management of Asiatic Elephant (Elepha maximus) 19-20 November 2015
11. W.P No.1064 of 2009 and M.P.No.1 of 2009 V.K.Mani Vs Chairman TNPCB; DEE, TNPCB, Erode; Velmurugan Brick Chamber
12. Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley” p-122
13. K.Mohanraj, 2021
14. Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley” p-122
15. “DISTRICT GROUNDWATER BROCHURE COIMBATORE DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU”, Government of India Ministry of Water Resources Central Ground Water Board South Eastern Coastal Region Chennai November 2008, p-13
16. See p.2, M.H.Krishnaswamy, “Working plan for the Thadagam Valley and Bolampatty Block III Forests 1930-1939”. Ponnoothu, Manbaavi, Karupparayankoil baavi, Naathukkadu baavi, Karumpaarai baavi, Moolakkadu baavi, Kadalarasi baavi, Kazhuvetti pallam baavi, Melbaavi, Keezh baavi, Maamarathupallam baavi, Anu baavi (Source: S.Rajendran, Chinna Thadagam)
17. https://slusi.dacnet.nic.in/dmwai/TAMILNADU/District/watershed/4B2C5.html
18. 24-Veerapandy: Theppannan Kuttai, Bolli Kuttai, Kalviyanur Kuttai, Parayan Kuttai, Seeraa Kaali Kuttai, Vannaan Kuttai, Karun kaalan Kuttai, Sen-kuttai,; Chinnathadagam: Sinbasan kuttai, Dhoddubasan kuttai, Arabi Kuttai, Lingappan Kuttai; 22-Nanjundapuram: Puthuk kuttai, Nanjundapuram Kuttai, Alamarak kuttai, Maamarak kuttai; Pools inside forest: Aththimara thurai, Rangasamy thurai, Naanal thurai; others: Raakki baavi, Navaak kinaru.
19. Captured at ChinnaThadagam village and translocated to Varakaliar Elephant Camp for training by the Forest department on 25 January 2019.
20. ந.க.எண் 10/2019/29.10.2019
21. RTI data from Forest department dated 17.8.2021 obtained by Thadagam S.Ganesh அலுவலகக் கடித எண் ப2/5524/2021
22. C., Tiwari, S.K., Goswami, V.R., de Silva, S., Kumar, A., Baskaran, N., Yoganand, K. & Menon, V. 2020. Elephas maximus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T7140A45818198. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T7140A45818198.en
23. “Brick kilns should be established at a minimum distance of one kilometre from an existing brick kiln to avoid clustering of kilns in an area”, SCHEDULE -1,Sl.No.74, Note 7., The Environment (Protection) Amendment Rules, 2022
24. “Sand mining, it may be noted, may have an adverse effect on bio-diversity as loss of habitat caused by sand mining will effect various species, flora and fauna and it may also destabilize the soil structure of river banks and often leaves isolated islands” - “Deepak Kumar Etc vs State Of Haryana & Ors.Etc on 27 February, 2012”, -Hon’ble supreme Court of India
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