Aranmula airport saga revives memories of Silent Valley

The campaign against the Aranmula airport, headed by the poet Sugathakumari and spearheaded by Hindu Aikya Vedi leader Kummanam Rajasekharan, has called off its 108-day-old relay dharna at Aranmula seeking to scrap the international airport project.

This follows the National Green Tribunal’s cancellation of the environmental clearance given to the project in November 2013 by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The Aranmula airport in Pathanamthitta district, billed as the country’s first private greenfield international airport, was promoted by the Chennai-based KGS Group. The Kerala Government had a 10 per cent equity stake in the venture.

The Chennai bench of the NGT last week cancelled the environmental clearance on the grounds that the agency that had carried out the environmental impact study lacked the credentials to do so and that the public hearing was not held in accordance to the norms. The expert appraisal committee of MoEF had recommended environmental clearance for the project on the basis of the environmental impact study and the public hearing.

The campaign against the airport project culminating in the NGT verdict has been hailed as a triumph of a well-organised people’s agitation in which more than 100 different environmental, political, social and religious groups participated.

The opposition to the airport was mainly based on environmental concerns, but the Sangh Parivar added a highly potent religious element highlighting the fear that the airport would be a threat to the sanctity of the Parthasarathy Temple. It also highlighted the heritage character of the temple town of Aranmula. The campaign helped the BJP candidate in Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency to gain thousands of votes.

Parallels have been drawn between the mass campaign against the proposed Silent Valley hydroelectric project back in the 1970-80s and the anti-airport agitation. The Save Silent Valley drive, spearheaded by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, was a watermark event in India’s environmental protection movement.

The drive, which highlighted the threat from the power project to the existence of the Silent Valley evergreen forest which was home to thousands of lion-tailed macaques, an endangered species.

The Silent Valley campaign had, for the first time, spotlighted the clash between `development’ and environmental protection at a time when the concept of `sustainable development’ was yet to gain currency in India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had put her foot down on the power project and paved the way for the Silent Valley National Park.

Interestingly, the in-principle approval for the project was given by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Government headed by VS Achuthanandan. The large tract of wetland in the project area was declared an industrial area.

However, the CPI(M) had, during the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, had turned anti-airport and joined the campaign. At the same time, the party stiffly opposed the recommendations of the Gadgil and Kasturi Rangan committees for the Western Ghats environmental protection.

The party fielded the leader of the campaign against the Western Ghats recommendations as its candidate in the Idukki Lok Sabha constituency. And, he won.

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