as this blog chronicled, during building of mindless and environmentally abusive mega unsustainable projects, one clear thing that gets a direct hit is the biodiversity of the location. plant species, endangered wildlife, endemic tribals, their livelihood, culture, customs, etc all take a direct hit.

in athirapally hydel dam issue, this plays out very clearly wherein the project proponents have trashed everything under the carpet and are bulldozing with the project.

for instance, dr.v.s.vijayan, now chairman of kerala state biodiversity board, last year shot off a letter to PM underscoring the importance of the athirapally project area from biodiversity stand point and raised his objections on the project. and he is now constituting the biodiversity body meeting to give opinion on the athirapally hydel dam project. i am pretty sure that the letter would have been thrown to the trash bin. if it was a phone call or a letter from say tata or reliance, man oh man, it would have been the highest priority. development is the mantra right?

even the kerala state government has not got opinion from the kerala state biodiversity board, a vital government constituted body on its opinion on the crucial forest area of athirapally. when it comes to development the only sections that matter are finance, clearance and construction. rest of the others can go the 'development' dustbin.