It's
no more the queen of hills. Not much blue mist in the air and the
numerous picturesque valleys have turned into ugly eucalyptus
plantations or concrete jungles. Most of the majestic waterfalls and
streams have dried up. Rare plants and trees are fast vanishing as the
climate has changed a lot.
Nilgiris, the summer retreat of British Raj in the then Madras
Presidency, now holds not much promise either to its residents or to
those who visiting it once in a while. It only has a dying legacy to
tell. Forget both Ooty and Coonoor, destroyed by the tourism mafia in
their bid to make easy money by throwing all rules and regulations to
the wind. Even other destinations like Gudalur and Kotagiri are under
the tight hold of land sharks and mafia groups. Deforestation is rampant
and the exodus of repatriates, refugees and migrants is still
continuing.
A road
project linking Gudalur with Sathyamangalam bypassing Ootty and a
railway line connecting nearby Wayanad and Malappuram in Kerala with
Nanjangud in Karnataka are on the active consideration of Union
Government and if implemented once, they would wipe out the
remaining flora and fauna of the blue hills. Efforts to establish a
gigantic neutrino research station with an underground laboratory
and a surface lab at Singara near Massinagudi within Muthumalai
Wildlife Sanctuary are also fast progressing giving a strong
indication that the rich biodiversity of the region is not safer.
Repatriate Indian Tamils from Sri Lanka, refugees who left the
island nation following the escalation of ethnic strife and
Malayalee migrant farmers from Southern Kerala are still remain the
aggrieved lot in Nilgiris though vast stretches of forest land were
destroyed for their rehabilitation and crores of public money were
wasted in the name of their welfare. The grass lands and sholas, the
twin eco-system of the Nilgiris, are also under threat at the hands
of film production units, which have little care for the
conservation of the real beauties of the hills.
Going by the history, century-old Nilgiri Mountain Railway had
sounded the death knell of the hills first. The Madras Railway
Company, a British firm, had completed the first stretch from
Mettupalayam to Conoor in 1899 while Ooty was connected by 1908. A
journey in it is unique and exciting as it is the only train in
India that runs on a special rack provided centrally between the
track rails. The 45-kilometre journey climbs steep gradients, over
waterfalls and streams, passing through thick jungle, long tunnels,
ravines, gorges and cliffs.
Before the arrival of the train, it was a long and arduous task to
climb the hills on horseback, with bullocks whipped into pulling
goods over a long and slow trek through the hills. The road and
train made the journey easy and the destruction of the hills
inevitable. British greed and Indian complicity did the rest.
John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore, is credited with the
discovery of the Nilgiris, specifically Ooty, in 1819. But people
have lived here for ages and human remains in the Nilgiris have been
dated to 10,000 B.C.
Neolithic sarcophagi, the Eluthu Paarai rock paintings of 3000 B.C.
and the mysterious Edakkal Cave inscriptions are among the earliest
archeological remains found in South India. The descendants of those
people are the colourful Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Irula and Paniya
tribes and their subsidiaries, and the more agricultural Badagas.
According to experts, Nilgiris is undoubtedly an excellent case for
study of inter-tribal relationships. The Todas bred buffaloes that
supplied the milk, the Kotas were potters, ironsmiths and
carpenters, Kurumbas were the magico-religious sorcerers, Irulas
were herbal doctors and the Paniyas were slaves and bonded labourers.
The Badagas were related to the Lingayats of Karnataka and brought
the science of agriculture to the hills. Each tribe performed its
exclusive role in the barter economy, besides eschewing inter-tribal
marriages and even communal feasting.
The tribes preserved the pristine beauty of the hills through
millennia. Yet, in the 120 years or so since the British went up the
hills, the Nilgiris have become an environmental hotspot. What
happened?
The Nilgiris (Neela Giri or Blue Mountains) are so-named because of
the blue mist that used to envelops them and because of the kurinji
(Strobilanthes kunthianus) flower, a tall bushy scrub eight to ten
feet high with bright blue bell-like flowers that bloom once in
twelve years and cover the hills in a blue haze. The Nilgiris are
rich in plant diversity and about 3000 varieties of flowering plants
have been identified here. Of the identified species of animals are
74 mammals, 342 birds, 120 reptiles and 49 amphibians, besides many
butterfly and insect species. The unidentified probably runs into
thousands.
The major
hills are the Nilgiri, Nilambur and Siruvani hills. The elevation ranges
from 300 metres to 2700 metres above mean sea level. The highest point
is Doddabetta at a height of 2,636 metres. Several rivers either flow
through the Nilgiris or originate there — Pykara, Moyar, Bhavani,
Chaliyar, Kodalundi, Bharathapuzha, Noyil, Kundah, Suvarnathi and
Lakshmana tirtha. The Nilgiris is home to the last tropical forests and
rainforests of South India.
The Nilgiris were the first to be declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1986,
an area of 5520 sq. kms. A biosphere reserve is a protected area with a
unique environment and ecology. There are several reserve forests such
as Nilambur, Kallar, Sirumugai, Siruvani Sigur and Singara; sanctuaries
such as Wynad, Nagarhole and Mudumalai; and national parks such as
Silent Valley and Bandipur.
The declaration of the NBR has not contained the degeneration of the
Nilgiris. The major problem is deforestation. Vast stretches were
denuded of their green cover. Between 1849 and 1992, the sholas
decreased from 8,600 hectares (ha) to 4,225 ha, grasslands from 29,875
ha to 4,700 ha. The timber was used for the railway sleepers during the
British period, and, till today, for construction, furniture, paper,
fuel and fuelwood for the tea industry. The cutting of trees and
destruction of forests has resulted in habitat loss for wildlife and
soil erosion, the rains washing away the rich topsoil year after year.
Another problem with the hills is the tea industry. It was in fact
Sullivan who introduced tea in the Nilgiris, but it was only after 1865
that tea cultivation became important. Today, nearly 16,900 ha are under
tea cultivation, served by highly polluting factories that process the
tea and, in the process, pollute the pure Nilgiri air. By law, tea must
be planted on slopes of above 330, but this law is easily flouted.
Unfortunately, while tea gardens look green, they do not encourage the
existence of a natural ecosystem. The land under cultivation for
''English'' vegetables has also gone up, to over 12,400 ha. All these
plants have short inadequate roots, leading to an increase in the number
of landslides.
The rocks and
boulders that make up the hills are held together by soil. When trees
are cut down, their roots are no longer available to hold the soil
together. A heavy rainfall is sufficient to make the rocks and boulders
come hurtling down. Tea and vegetable plants are totally inadequate in
preventing landslides.
In addition, the alien wattle and eucalyptus trees cover over 9,775 ha
and 5,150 ha respectively. Their prime purpose has been to supply raw
material for South India Viscose, who held a 99-year lease. Nothing
grows beneath these trees, which have only served to drive away the
natural wildlife, and drunk up the ground water reserves.
Several
development projects rang the death knell for the Nilgiris. Locating the
Hindustan Photo Films in the Nilgiris was a suicidal and ridiculous
attempt by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a
resource-guzzling white elephant. Thousands of hectares of forestland
and grasslands were destroyed to build the factories and the homes for
the staff, an unnecessary effort as the company (a PSU) died a natural
death. The relocation of the repatriate Tamils from Sri Lanka in the
Nilgiris following the Sirimavo Bandarnaike-Lal Bahadur Shastri pact was
another act of suicide, as the population shot up, resulting in the
establishment of TANTEA to provide them work by converting more forest
land to tea gardens. Neither the repatriates nor the ecology benefited
from that attempt.
The Pykara
Ultimate Stage Hydro Electric Project (PUSHEP) was yet another disaster.
Apart from the expansion of the hydroelectric project in prime
forestland, 7000 people were settled in Masinagudi and transported daily
to PUSHEP across the elephant corridor. Companies like the Government
Cordite Factory, Protein Products India and Needle Industries have also
contributed to the degradation of the Nilgiris, by the conversion of
forest to factories and the pollution of air, land and water. The
consequent population pressure has created slums out of the beautiful
hill stations of Ooty and Coonoor.
The
destruction of wildlife is unforgivable. It all started with the
trigger-happy British hunters, followed, after Independence, by
trigger-happy Indian poachers. Habitat loss, increases in population,
and pressure on land, water and other natural resources have made the
tiger a rarity, the tusker impossibility. The elephant corridor is
heavily encroached, making migration extremely difficult for these huge
pachyderms. Poaching has taken a heavy toll of wildlife.
Life is not a cozy affair for the original tribal inhabitants of the
Nilgiris as well. Alcoholism is rampant and their population is
decreasing. Their ancient inter-tribal barter system has broken down and
they lack the skills to make them employable. With the exception of the
Badagas who are educated and prosperous, the rest have been dispossessed
of their land. They have become objects of curiosity for gawking
tourists, but have been unable to derive any benefit from the tourism
industry, unlike locals elsewhere. Governments and the people have
destroyed the Nilgiris in their greed to exploit its resources and
treasures. But the Nilgiris are the major watershed for South India,
serving three states. If they go, so will our biodiversity, our natural
resources, our water catchments, our life giving rains. The survival of
the South is heavily dependant on the Nilgiris.
(This article is part of a media
fellowship awarded by national Foundation for India)
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It's
no more the queen of hills. Not much blue mist in the air and the
numerous picturesque valleys have turned into ugly eucalyptus
plantations or concrete jungles. Most of the majestic waterfalls and
streams have dried up. Rare plants and trees are fast vanishing as the
climate has changed a lot.
Another problem with the hills is the tea industry. It was in fact
Sullivan who introduced tea in the Nilgiris, but it was only after 1865
that tea cultivation became important. Today, nearly 16,900 ha are under
tea cultivation, served by highly polluting factories that process the
tea and, in the process, pollute the pure Nilgiri air. By law, tea must
be planted on slopes of above 330, but this law is easily flouted.
Unfortunately, while tea gardens look green, they do not encourage the
existence of a natural ecosystem. The land under cultivation for
''English'' vegetables has also gone up, to over 12,400 ha. All these
plants have short inadequate roots, leading to an increase in the number
of landslides.
