A road being laid to Dolphin’s Nose, one of the most frequented tourist spots in Kodaikanal, could threaten the Indian Gaur and deer corridor, as it runs close to the Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary, activists say.
According to local activists, the popular spot, situated near the villages of Vattakanal and Thiruvalluvar (TV) Nagar, is presently only accessible by a footpath through TV Nagar. In 2019, four alternative routes were surveyed to connect this tourist spot by a motorable road to Vattakanal village, but there was no further official communication and the issue became dormant. Suddenly, road work commenced on March 2, one day after Revenue Department officials and a few Forest Department staff visited and inspected the route to be implemented. There was no prior intimation to any of the stakeholders, no notice was served and no compensation scheme was offered to local residents, who would be adversely affected by the road, said an activist, requesting anonymity.
Part of the road falls within Vellagavi – Chinnur village, listed as a village in an eco-sensitive zone, under the ESZ notification of the Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary. As per the ESZ notification, construction and felling of all kinds of trees require prior permissions from the competent authorities, the activist says.
“Also, the road is supposedly for tribal people in Vellagavi who reach the village now by walking this path but instead of laying road on the existing path, they are laying a 20-metre wide road which would cut through the Reserve Forest,” he charges.
Already the property of two residents from Vattakanal has been damaged: a revetment wall and a fence have been pulled down. Police personnel were posted for protection when the roadwork was taken up.
Activists say, the new route was the least suited of all the earlier surveyed road routes, for ecological as well as economical reasons: “This new road project is exclusively meant to promote tourism in an eco-sensitive area in close proximity (50 metres at some points) to the Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary area,” an activist says.
Significantly, the present route is an important Gaur and deer corridor: at present it is a quiet residential pathway frequented by a handful of local residents and a large Indian Gaur population and deer, almost touching the Vattakanal Shola Reserve Forest and grasslands, Activists say it is a biodiversity hotspot within the Palani Hills, harbouring many endangered endemic flora and fauna species like the Nilgiri marten, Nilgiri Langur, Nilgiri pipit, Sambar/Barking deer and rare terrestrial orchids.
Rampant tourism in the Vattakanal area has already destroyed other precious habitats and the new road and the tourist onslaught could be detrimental to wildlife, activists charge.
Forest Department officials say that the road is being now laid on Revenue Department land and Revenue officials have not approached the Forest Department till now. “Clearances would have to be obtained for any road through reserve forests,” an official said.
