Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)
Bangalore, Sep 19: The union government has asked the state government not to go ahead with the hydro electricity projects proposed to be undertaken in the environmentally sensitive regions of the Western Ghats. Execution of the project can possibly endanger the rare species of life in the Ghat region, it has warned.
Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh said that the department had written twice to the state government, asking it to shelve hydel power plants like the Gundia Project, which submerge large tracts of forest.
"Just the fact that the foundation stone has been laid for the Gundia project, does not mean that we have given it a no-objection letter. Western Ghat is one of the four environmentally sensitive regions of the country. Gundia project will submerge 1,900 acres of forest located in the Ghat section," he commented.