The Silent Valley happens to be among the oldest stretches of rainforests in the world; possibly the only region in the country with a relatively undisturbed evolutionary history of at least 50 million years.
It is located in the border of Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district and Nilambur Taluk of Mallapuram district of Kerala State, and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu on the Western Ghats. The Silent Valley is an evergreen tropical forest and virtually a biodiversity treasure trove. This area was first explored by botanist Robert Wight in 1847. The flora and fauna of the valley include myriads of species, most of which are endemic to Western Ghats.
The major fauna are lion-tailed macaque, hanuman langur, Nilgiri langur, tiger, leopard, panther, elephant, gaur, wild boar, spotted deer, sambar, barking dear, mouse deer, jungle cat, fishing cat, small Indian civet, common palm civet, brown palm civet, ruddy mongoose, sloth bear, Indian pangolin, porcupine, Nilgiri tahr, Nilgiri wood pigeon, Nilgiri blue robin, Malabar giant squirrel, Malabar grey hornbill, Ceylon frogmouth, red winged crested cuckoo, hairy winged bat, rufous babbler, crimson backed sunbird, grey-headed bulbul, white-bellied treepie, etc.
In 1928 the location at Sairandhri on the Kuntipuzha river that runs through Silent Valley was identified as an ideal site for construction of a hydroelectric dam. In 1958 a survey of the area was conducted and in 1970, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) proposed a 240 MW hydroelectric dam project that would also irrigate 100 sq km. But the project once comes up will submerge 8.3 sq km of untouched moist evergreen forest. In February 1973, the Planning Commission approved the project.
However, plans for a hydroelectric project that threatened the area’s biodiversity was not acceptable to the nature lovers and conservationists, as the submergence area happens to be the natural habitat of the endangered lion-tailed macaque and various other endemic and IUCN red-listed animal and plant species.
Steven Green, a scientist from New York Zoological Society conducted a study on the primates, especially the lion-tailed macaque and expressed concern about the possible threats to the species due to the hydroelectric project. At about the same time, herpetologist Romulus Whitakar, founder of the Madras Snake Park and the Madras Crocodile bank also made a survey and was probably the first person to draw public attention to this issue.
In 1973 Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), a non-Government voluntary organization led by school teachers, and the Silent Valley Samrakshana Samiti launched a strong movement to the save Silent Valley from being flooded due to submergence by a hydroelectric project.
The poet activist Sugathamukari played an important role and composed the poem “Marathinu Stuthi” (Ode to a Tree), which became a symbol for the protest from the intellectual community and was the opening song/ prayer of most of the “Save Silent Valley” campaign meetings.
In 1976 the National Committee on Environment Planning and Coordination set up a Task Force chaired by Zafar Futehally, an Indian naturalist and conservationist, to study the ecological problems that could be precipitated by the project. The Task Force after carefully studying recommended scrapping of the project. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, approved the project, with the condition that the Kerala State Government enacts legislation ensuring the necessary safeguards to the pristine biodiversity.
In 1977 the Kerala Forest Research Institute carried on an ecological impact study of the Silent Valley area and proposed that the area be declared a biosphere reserve.Also that year the General Assembly of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) passed a resolution recommending conservation of the undisturbed area for protection of lion-tailed macaques and other species in the Silent Valley and Kalakkad.
However, Morarji Deasi as Prime Minister then rejected all the appeals and gave green signal to go ahead with the project. In 1979 the Kerala Government passed a legislation regarding the Silent Valley Project area (Protection of Ecological Balance Act of 1979) and issued a notification declaring the exclusion of the hydroelectric project area from the proposed national park, that further added fuel to the fire.
Meanwhile, at the Centre, Morarji Desai was replaced by Charan Singh as PM. He instituted a Central Committee to investigate the issue, headed by MS Swaminathan.
Dr Salim Ali, famous ornithologist of Bomaby Natural History Society (BNHS) and Dr MS Swaminathan, the renowned agricultural scientist and then Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, Government of India were not in favour of the hydroelectric project.
Dr Swaminathna suggested to create a national rainforest biosphere reserve covering a vast area including the Silent Valley (89.52 sq km), New Amarambalam (80 sq km), Attapadi (120 sq km) in Kerala, and Kuna (100 sq km) in Tamil Nadu reserve forests, with the aim of preventing erosion of valuable genes from the area. This confirms to the ecological impact study of the Silent Valley area conducted by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in 1977 that proposed for a biosphere reserve. In 1981 Prof CV Subramanian, the internationally known mycologist, submitted a report and wrote to then PM Indira Gandhi, seeking her intervention to stop the dam construction which held very unique flora and fauna.
In 1982, a multidisciplinary committee with Prof MGK Menon, as Chairman, and Madhav Gadgil, Dillip K Biswas and others as members was constituted to study if the hydroelectric project was feasible without any significant ecological damage. Early in 1983 Prof Menon Committee submitted its report.
As national and international pressure mounted, Indira Gandhi took personal interest and abandoned the project, considering all the aspects after a careful study of the reports. On October 31 1984 she was assassinated and on November 15 the Silent valley forests were declared as a National Park that was inaugurated by Rajiv Gandhi as PM. In September 1986 the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (BR) was created, with Silent Valley in the core, under the Man and Biosphere Programme of UNESCO. It is India’s first and foremost BR with a heritage rich in flora and fauna.
Nilgiri BR is home to 3,500 species of flowering plants including more than 100 orchids of which 1,500 species are endemic to Western Ghats, about 100 species of mammals, 500 species of avifauna, 30 species of reptiles and amphibians, and other fauna. In 1914 the Silent Valley was declared a reserve forest.
Save Silent Valley campaign is one of the most successful ecological movements that motivated the political will to save natural ecosystem and the unique biodiversity contained therein.
(Dr Patro is president, Orissa Environmental Society, snpatro11@gmail.com, M- 9437190420)
