SAVING SILLAHALLA, THE PROPOSED HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT SITE IN THE NILGIRIS

The proposed Sillahalla Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project has run into rough weather as local residents have come out to protest, fearing the impact of such a large-scale project on their lives and livelihood. Rohan Premkumar spends some time with them to find out what exactly bothers the villagers

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For the last few months, residents of Bellathycombai village near Manjoor in the Kundha taluk of the Nilgiris district have been a worried lot. The Adivasi residents have been reporting strange explosions along River Sillahalla — the proposed project site of the Sillahalla Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project.

While officials of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) claim that the explosions should not be a cause for worry, arguing that they were conducting site-stability tests for getting approval for the project from the Geological Survey of India (GSI), residents argue that the government has little regard for their concern over safety. “As we are the ones who would be most affected by this project and at risk from any calamity that may arise out of a hydroelectric power project, we should be informed about the nature of work being undertaken at the site,” said a resident of Bellathycombai.

Residents of the village and 30 other areas which would be most affected by the project have grown increasingly frustrated with the government over its lack of transparency. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) scheduled a public consultation meeting in March this year, but cancelled it all of a sudden, without announcing a fresh date. Residents and activists feel the last-minute cancellation was a ploy to buy more time for the implementation of the project because environmentalists had planned a large-scale protest at the meeting. Despite assurances from Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru that the project would be implemented only with the unanimous consent of local communities, there have been protests by residents and local activists.

Opposition to the project