29.6.2022
Thadagam Valley is located in the southern Western Ghats Mountain range. It has an area of about 4800 Hectares. Thadagam Reserve Forest surrounds the valley and is a part of the Coimbatore Forest Division. These Mountains are horse shoe shaped and they encircle the valley from the North, west and southern directions. Sanganur Stream, a major tributary of the Noyyal River originates from these Mountains and the Valley.This is a 5th order Intermittent River Ephemeral Stream (IRES) comprising 6 micro watersheds (1). Thadagam Reserve Forest and 24-Veerapandi, a revenue village located in the Thadagam Valley, are MoEF&CC notified Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) (2). 
Revenue Villages in Thadagam Valley and around
|
Revenue Village |
Area (Hectares) |
Ecological Demarcation |
|
24 Veerapandi |
4906.25 |
HACA-ESA |
|
23 Chinna Thadagam |
1031.00 |
HACA |
|
22 Nanjundapuram |
1198.92 |
HACA |
|
Pannimadai |
748.86 |
- |
|
Somayampalayam |
1311.00 |
HACA |
|
Naickenpalayam - Govanur |
982.89 |
HACA |
|
Total |
10,178.92 |
|
|
Source: District Census Handbook Coimbatore pp.28, 220 - Census of India 2011 |
||
When many species of butterflies migrate between the eastern ghats and the western ghats just before the monsoons, they cross these valleys regularly, and so these valleys are known to be a part of their migratory paths.
Botanists have evinced interest in the flora of the valley from the year 2010 onwards (7). A study by Prabhukumar et al., in 2012 on Rare Endemic and Threatened (RET) plants from Nilgiris, Kanuvai and Madukkarai forests of southern Western Ghats lists one Endangered plant Endemic to Tamil Nadu, one Rare Endemic to South Western Ghats, one Near Threatened and one Endemic to peninsular India found in the valley (8). Crotalaria ramosissima Roxb.var. kanuvayensis, a plant species hitherto unknown to the southern Western Ghats was discovered in the valley in the year 2012. This is confined only in this locality and because of its rarity and very restricted distribution of this taxa, it has been considered as a “critically endangered” species (9).
The official website of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) - Bhuvan, has demarcated Thadagam Valley as a valley prone to various types of soil erosion (10).
Illegal brick kilns and quarries were opened and operated in these ecologically fragile valleys from the year 1995. Their operations were mechanised in the year 2006 and they became large scale and massive (11). Large mines with total borrow area far exceeding 50 Hectares were opened up in the foothills of the Thadagam Reserve Forest, Patta lands, Temple Lands, Vinobha Bhoomi Dhan Lands, Government Porambokku Lands and also in the stream banks and beds. These mines were located close to each other and formed many clusters (12).
Kilns with stacks were also located adjacent to each other (literally with no space between them). In addition, they were also located inside and near human habitations (13). These activities have caused huge negative impacts on the environment and life forms including humans.
People of the valley have constructed over the last two centuries, hundreds of small water pools that were filled by slow flowing streams during the rainy days (14). These pools were used as water holes for their cattle and also for wildlife. They also served as ground water recharge pits. The largest of such pool has an area of 16 acres, thought to have been constructed by a woman called Ponni, still bearing her name Ponni Eri.
All these water bodies have been completely destroyed by the illegal brick kiln industry over the past 25 years.
The 5th order 24 kilo meter long Sanganur stream, known for its historical flash floods, is unable to flow even beyond its first five kilo meter length because of the quarries dug up in its bed and in the banks of its tributaries (15). This has caused the stream dependent 200-acre Chinnavedampatti Lake to go dry for the past 15 years and Singanallur Lake to lose its only source of fresh water supply, thus keeping it highly polluted by urban sewage throughout the year. Thousands of acres of farm lands depending on the Chinnavedampatti Lake remain severely affected.
Thus the five micro-watersheds of the Sanganur stream located inside the valley remain completely destroyed.
Brick kilns need large volume of water to mix and mould red brick earth to bricks. This need was met solely by pumping the Valley’s ground water using high-capacity electrical pumps from deep bore wells. The pumped water was stored in large open tanks at the center of the Valley where very large brick moulding sheds (each shed with a built-up area of more than 1 lakh square feet) had been erected. Excessive pumping had negatively impacted the many natural springs at the foothill by drying them up completely. They also had dried up the water bodies present inside the reserve forest. These springs and water bodies are the only source of water for wild life. When they were deprived of water, they started entering the brick moulding sheds where water was available in plenty. In addition to this, usage of Palmyrah wood to bake the bricks in the kilns attracted elephants, as they love to consume its pith. When they consumed the fermented pith, they ran amok. All these factors contributed to increased incidences of Human Animal Conflict.
Continuous usage of stream beds as roads by heavy vehicles to reach the mines at foothills and transport their borrows for the last 25 years has caused severe compaction of stream beds leading eventually to the damage of stream bed ecology, heavy run off and soil erosion. (It is to be noted that the illegal brick industry in Thadagam Valley will not be able to sustain itself without using the dry stream beds as the roads for its heavy vehicles, to reach the quarries located at the foothills.)
Brick kilns used the wood of Prosopis juliflora and Cashew husk as their major fuel source to bake the bricks. They also used low quality coal as an alternate fuel. Waste foundry sand was imported extensively to mix with the brick earth. The pollutants from all these activities from the kilns located within the village boundaries or just in the adjacent area, have risked the human population with diseases related to lungs, mouth, throat and kidneys. Oro-pharyngeal cancers, bronchial and lung cancers and chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis became very common illnesses affecting the local human population (16).
The hills surrounding the valley in north, west and south have high slopes. Elephants of the Coimbatore Elephant Reserve use the foothills of the valley as their migratory route and dwelling area. As the Valley is narrow, they tend to use the dry stream beds to move from the northern hill to the southern one. The massive quarries dug up in the foothills and the stream banks have caused immense difficulties for their movement. As the stream beds are the only route through which the heavy vehicles can reach the brick earth quarries in the foothills, and as they are the most commonly used paths by elephants, Human Elephant Conflict had become unprecedented. In addition to this, incidences of elephants and gaur falling into these deep quarries and getting fatally wounded have occurred regularly. These events have stressed the district forest department severely over the past decade.
People living in the Valley started complaining about their sufferings caused by the massive illegal brick factory cluster to the district authorities from the year 2007. As there was no response from the District administration, Mr.T.M.S.Rajendran, a resident of Chinnathadagam Village filed a case in the High Court of Madras in September 2019 demanding the closure and sealing of illegal brick kilns and the formation of an expert panel to study the damages caused to the environment, agriculture, ecology and to humans. In the same month Mr.Muralidharan, an animal welfare activist filed a case in the same court demanding the closure of the brick factories in the valley with the contention that they are causing much harm to the migratory path and dwelling area of the elephants of Coimbatore Forest Division (17). On 29.10.2019, the District Collector issued a notice of closure and sealing to all the illegal brick kilns and had warned the operators of criminal proceedings if they continue to operate illegally (18). His notice and warning did not stop the illegal brick kiln operations. However, the Collector did not pursue criminal proceedings against them as per his order. The Madras High Court intervened on 06.01.2021 by passing an order that asked the District administration to find ways reduce Human Elephant Conflict, to protect the Elephant migratory route and provide the Right to Passage for the elephants in the Valley, and to take necessary actions against all the illegal brick kilns in the valley. It passed a further order on 10.02.2021 asking the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu Government to submit a Status Report on this issue within the next 6 weeks. The district administration responded to this order on 19.03.2021, by closing, sealing and withdrawing the electricity connections to the 183 illegal brick kilns in the Valley. The extensive media reports on this issue prompted the South Zone Green Tribunal of India to take this case Suo Motu on 14.04.2021. It directed the district administration to form an Expert Committee to asses the damages caused by the illegal brick kiln quarries to the ground water resource, streams and agriculture of the area.
As the District administration’s closure notice of October 2019 was not implemented, the illegal operators increased their activity many folds fearing that their operations would be stopped by the Government sooner or later. The period of 16 months that followed this first closure notice till the final act of closure and sealing in March 2021 saw the maximum number of Human Elephant Conflict inside the Valley. In the period of 8 months between May 2020 and December 2020, 8 humans have died inside the Valley alone because of Human Elephant Conflict (19). In contrast to this, in the 15 months following the final closure and sealing of this illegal brick kilns (till 25.06.2022), not one Human Elephant Conflict was reported from the Valley. With the stream beds free from heavy vehicles, there is nothing to agitate elephants and gaur using them as their migratory routes. As the ground water of the Valley remains unexploited by the illegal brick industry in these 15 months, the springs at the foothills and the water bodies inside the surrounding Thadagam Reserve Forest are bountiful, thus fulfilling the needs of the wildlife of the Valley completely. This fulfilment has restricted the necessity of the wild animals to venture into the Valley for water. Human Elephant Conflict and damages to farm lands have stopped completely because of this one important judicial and administrative action.
The Government Order of Tamil Nadu dated 03.11.2021 (G.O.(Ms)No.295) states that no mining activity is allowed within one kilo meter from the boundaries of Ecologically Sensitive Areas and Reserve Forests. When this GO is applied to Thadagam Valley (20) having an area of about 4600 Hectares, 3600 Hectares (74%) of the Valley land falls under no mining area. The remaining 26% of land is mainly occupied by human dwellings and streams. Hence, if this GO is implemented fully, no new quarries can be opened in Thadagam Valley in the future.
However, over the past six months, a few of the illegal brick kiln operators have switched over to produce fly ash bricks from the valley itself without getting the necessary permission from the State authorities. The first unit is located just 280 meters from a village.
The second unit is located at the foothills illegally occupying a waterbody called Kaungalan Kuttai which also happens to be on the elephant migratory route. This second unit is using dry stream beds as roads for its heavy vehicles. Both are extracting ground water for their production purposes. More such units are being planned by the cash rich, politically powerful, illegal erstwhile brick kiln owners. GO (Ms)No.295 will not be able to curtail these operations even if they cause damage to stream beds, depletion of ground water, aggregation of large number of workers working day and night which eventually will lead to excessive human animal conflict and the destruction of endangered species of the valley. Switching over to a new production activity without assessing and remediating the environmental and ecological damages caused to the valley is what is happening today. This is happening even when the issue of assessing damages to the valley and compensation to remediate them is being heard by the National Green Tribunal.
The impact of illegal brick kilns on the Valley environment and human population over the past 25 years inform us that any production activity that would necessitate large scale human gathering and ground water extraction are bound to cause increased Human Animal Conflict in the valley and excessive crop damages. With this in mind, a moratorium should be put in place by State authorities to curb all production activity before ecological remediation of the valley is completed.
24 Veerapandi is an MoEF designated Ecologically Sensitive Area for the past 9 years. Chinna Thadagam, 22 Nanjundapuram are considered ecologically fragile by the Tamil Nadu Government and have been placed under Hill area Conservation Authority for the past 32 years. However, their ecosystem has been excessively damaged by an illegal brick industry. Judicial intervention has brought this ongoing destruction to a stop and has highlighted the need for remediating the damaged ecosystem and protecting them in future.
Declaring the entire ecologically damaged valley and its neighbouring areas as an Ecologically Sensitive Area would provide the legal status to the region where no new activity that could harm the ecosystem would be allowed. This would be the absolute precondition that would be necessary for planning and implementing remediation of the ecological damages suffered by the valley and its inhabitants.
It is in this background, the Tamil Nadu State Government should request the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change to declare this entire region of 10,178.92 Hectares of land encompassing Thadagam Valley and its neighbouring areas as an Ecologically Sensitive Area.
1. https://slusi.dacnet.nic.in/dmwai/TAMILNADU/District/watershed/sub-watershed/4B2C5b.html
2. K.Kasturirangan REPORT OF THE HIGH LEVEL WORKING GROUP ON WESTERN GHATS Volume I , 15 April 2013, p-93; MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE NOTIFICATION dated 3rd October, 2018 - S.O. 5135(E)
3. http://www.wiienvis.nic.in/Database/ElephantReserves_8226.aspx
4. K.Ramkumar, B.Ramakrishnan, R.Saravanamuthu, “Human-Elephant (Elephas maximus) Conflict in Southern India: Spatial Movement Pattern of Asian Elephants Outside Reserved Forests of Coimbatore Forest Division”, © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4_18
5. 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 - GoTN
6. S.Prasanth Narayanan et al., “New Site record of the Yellow-throated Bulbul Pycnotus xantholaemus from the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu (India) in Indian Birds Vol.2 No.6 (November-December 2006) - https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.528.6261&rep=rep1&type=pdf
7. Binu Thomas et al., “Ethnomedicinal Chasmophytes of Southern Western Ghats in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India” in Hamdard Medicus, Vol.54, No.3, July-September 2011.
8. KM Prabhukumar et al, “Validation and Documentation of Rare Endemic and Threatened (RET)
plants from Nilgiris, Kanuvai and Madukkarai forests of southern Western Ghats, India”, in Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15):3436-3442, December 2012
9. Binu Thomas et al., “A new variety of Crotalaria ramosissima (Fabaceae) from Tamil Nadu, India”, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine (2012)1-3
10. https://bhuvan-vec2.nrsc.gov.in/bhuvan/wms (ID:5294 erosion:TN_ERO50K_0506)
11. see - Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley” , December 2021 - Book
12. B1 Cluster requiring Environment Clearance from SEIAA - OM S.O. 141(E)—dated 15th January 2016, p-24;
13. Illegal - 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; MoEF&CC Notification dated 22 February 2022 - G.S.R. 143(E) ; Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley”, December 2021 - Book
14. Theppannan Kuttai, Ponni Kuttai, Kalviyanur Kuttai, Parayan Kuttai, Seerakaali Kuttai, Vannaan Kuttai, Karunkaalan Kuttai, Sen Kuttai, Sinpaasan Kuttai, Dhoddubasan Kuttai, Arabi Kuttai, Lingappan Kuttai, Puthu Kuttai, Nanjundapuram Kuttai, Alamara Kuttai, Maamara Kuttai
15. see - Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley” , December 2021 - Book
16. Saandhu, “Stuck in the days of Abundance: The Strange Case of Streams at Thadagam Valley” , December 2021 - Book
17. W.P.No.28475 of 2019; W.P.No. 27356 of 2019
18. ந.க.10/கனிமம்/2019 தேதி 29.10.2019
19. RTI data from Forest department dated 17.8.2021 obtained by Thadagam S.Ganesh அலுவலகக் கடித எண் ப2/5524/2021
20. 24 Veerapandi and Thadagam Reserve Forest are designated ESAs.
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