Vikas Parashar
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Ripping the mountains apart to make way for Parvati Hydroelectric Power Project |
The project was launched in 1994 in GNPH, Himachal Pradesh, and in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tamil Nadu. The five-year project was the first World Bank (WB) sponsored attempt to test the tool of eco-development – giving forests a new lease of life by improving the condition of the people dependent upon it.
The eco-development component of the larger FREEP project was incorporated arbitrarily and closed unceremoniously five years later. "A part of the project’s funds were allocated in the name of biodiversity conservation but the time to use it was fast running out,’’ says a biodiversity expert. "The Bank got some people to work out some use of it and so came about FREEP’s biodiversity component in the two protected areas." There were no criteria for the choice of sites, he alleges.
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Tula Ramis bitter about how money meant for villagers was squandered away |
The project ended In December 1999. The money was exhausted and the resources were as dry as they were at the beginning of the project. The WB’s Implementation Completion Report, 2002, observed, "…in the GHNP, achievement of the project objectives during the project period was unsatisfactory. There has been little or no impact on the ground from eco-development investments. The 16 committees formed during project period are defunct."
The report, however, made an interesting note: "In the post-credit closure period, women’s savings and credit groups have been established covering poor families and a Biodiversity Conservation Society is in place." This was a passing reference to the changes that the management had been able to bring about without any further injection of funds.
Three years after the project’s initiation, the project director was replaced. The new one decided to set up thrift groups. But the women’s groups could not even afford to deposit a rupee in their thrift groups every day. "I realised that the best income generation activity we had was daily wage labour," says Pandey, who had taken over as the new director. He began providing wage works to the women, and in return, they began saving a rupee a day.
Great Himalayan National Park at a glance Great Himalayan National Park, which represents the biogeographic zone 2A North West Himalaya, is located between latitude 31degree 38’ 15’’ and 31 degree 56’ 41’’ North and longitude 77 degree 20’ to 77 degree 52’ 11’’ East. It is situated in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh and is spread over 75440 hectares. There are two wildlife sanctuaries adjacent to the park – Sainja and Tirthan – which occupy 9000 hectares and 6100 hectares respectively. The eco zone is the area within five kilometres from the periphery of the park. About 16,000 people live in 130 hamlets along its western rim. Traditionally, agriculture sustained these people. But the land most people owned was too small to see them through the year. So, they look at forest produce to augment their income. The equilibrium, however, was disturbed as the pharmaceutical industry began fuelling a huge demand for herbs. By 1998, 4,000-6,000 herb collectors and 20,000-30,000 sheep and goats were entering the forest every year. The Park falls within one of the globally important endemic bird areas. As many as 183 bird species including 132 passerines and 51 non-passerines have been recorded in the Park, which is substantially high, compared to other areas of Western Himalaya. It also supports some endangered mammals and pheasants such as musk deer, seron, brown beer, blue sheep and cheer pheasants. It is one of the two habitats in the world for the endangered Western Tragopan – the other one is in Pakistan. |
Today, the savings groups are still in their infancy. Some are learning how to rotate funds, others are happy and assured in holding a cheque worth a few thousand rupees in their hands, even though the saved money remains locked and unproductive. The women, comprising 35 per cent scheduled caste population, remain largely excluded. "It’s an uphill task to get them involved. We are trying," admits Pandey.
The first three years
The savings groups are the result of only two years’ work. The first three years of
the project’s life, in contrast, were disastrous. Records prove that 48.83 per cent
of the project allocation was spent in a span of just two years (see table).
"As with all government projects, here too, the park authorities had to run from pillar to post to get funds sanctioned from the state government. Towards the end, the funds were released to show project’s completion. How can one finish work designated for completion in five years in two years?" asks the project director.
The village residents too are unhappy. Roop Chand, 65, a resident of Kharongcha village, which is close to the park’s periphery, rues, "Not a single penny was spent on us. They constructed check post and other buildings." Most of these buildings have now developed cracks and no one lives in them, he adds.
Official records show that the money was spent but villagers bitterly recall the way it was spent. Tula Ram, who runs a shop in Ropa, a village close to the Park, alleges, "The erstwhile Congress MP, Satya Prakash Thakur, used the project money to distribute cookers and sewing machines to his party workers, claiming it was his initiative."
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check post building in |
Sixteen village eco-development committees (VEDCs) were set up. But the representation remained as skewed as the social and political setup of the region. The upper caste groups dominated. Money or goods distributed to supposedly reduce pressure on the park, went to a select few.
The heads of the VEDCs, who generally belonged to upper castes, were empowered to distribute the fund arbitrarily. In all VEDCs, the beneficiaries were people known to the heads. The fund, which was actually for the poor, hardly reached any of the intended beneficiaries.
Ajay Chand, who lives in Nahin, a village around 2 km away from the Park’s periphery, alleges, "A forest guard was made the member secretary of the committee. The head of the committee, with the help of the forest guard, made the microplans without involving us. The money went into their pocket and the few sewing machines or other such items that they distributed went to their relatives."
Too little, too late
The first three years of the project may not have yielded anything for the forests but the
consequences of the last two years of work on the Park too remain doubtful in the least
and questionable at worst.
While the Park authorities have tried to reduce Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) collection pressures on the Park by setting up nurseries of three higly-valued NTFP species, the efforts are yet to bear fruit.
Only one of the 10 nurseries, conveniently placed in the forest rest house at Sairopa village (showcased to all visitors) and under the supervision of the residing forest staff, is generating results. The villagers remain unconnected with it. Two of the remaining nine nurseries visited by Down To Earth were mere abandoned plots at high altitudes. Caught up in the middle of this half-hearted effort, the larger vision to generate biomass outside the park for the people remains a pipe dream.
Ajay Chand, who owns about 80 cattle, says, "The park authorities had promised us that fodder and herbs would be available outside the park. One can see nothing has been done."
Chand continues to graze his cattle inside the Park. Others continue to collect ntfp. The economics is compelling. Preetam Singh, 28, who lives in Kharongcha village in Tirthan valley, says, "My family can make about Rs 25,000 per year from herb collection. Some families make over Rs 30,000." Unless the opportunity costs of shifting ‘illegitimate’ livelihoods to legitimate ones are met, people like Preetam do not find it lucrative to change occupations.
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Ironically, the only activity that has been able to wean people off from herb collection
is the Parvati Hydroeletric Power Project. The project, coming up in the Senjh valley, has
provided people of the valley and neighboring areas daily wage labour and small contracts.
Residents of Tirthan valley consider themselves ‘unlucky’ for not having a similar ‘development’ project in their area and continue to collect herbs for a living. Pandey laments, "The project, which began in 2000, has butchered the forest in the region. The economy of the park and the people has been completely reworked by the influx of contracts, labour and destruction."
The population of the valley has increased from 2,000-2,500 to approximately 6,000 people. Colonies have come up where forests existed, spawning their own set of economic demands on the scarce resources.
Neither the project officials, nor the park authorities, ever envisaged a monster sitting in the lap. "Even if it had what would a project like FREEP have done to mitigate the ecological disaster and the economic turmoil the hydroelectric project promises for the region?" asks a consultant who had worked closely to build the initial plan for the free project back in 1992.
