TNPCB cancels public hearing on Silahalla power project

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) cancelled the planned public consultation meeting that was to be held at Kundha in the Nilgiris on Thursday to get the public opinion on the controversial Silahalla Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project.

The TNPCB’s notification of the meeting – that was published over a week ago – had led to local residents, farmers’ associations and conservationists voicing concerns against the project, which residents had believed had been cancelled.

Farmers’ associations and the Silahalla Protection Committee have been opposing the project since its announcement more than a decade ago, claiming that it would affect farmland and livelihoods of residents of over 20 villages surrounding the Kundha taluk.

Residents had also planned on voicing their opposition to the project during the meeting with the TNPCB.

When contacted, Nilgiris Collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeruv said that the Union Ministry of Environment and Climate Change had prepared an environmental impact assessment of the project already, and the TNPCB was to table it before local residents. “The project is in a nascent stage. People were confused that the meeting called for by the TNPCB was about land acquisition, but it was to simply share the impact assessment and seek the opinion of the public,” Ms. Tanneeru said, adding that the meeting between residents and the TNPCB would be held on a future date.

The Collector said that for the project to be implemented, it was mandatory that the approval of local communities was sought. “There is no doubt that the assent of local residents will be sought before the project is sanctioned, which could take many years,” she further said.