Kappatagudda project: Why green activists are wary of Karnataka govt's moves

But, the proverbial Damocles sword continues to hang over the ecologically fragile sanctuary as the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) is still mulling over giving the green signal for nearly 30 mining proposals, around the protected forest areas of Central and southern Karnataka region. This also includes the Kappatagudda wildlife sanctuary at Gadag district.

This move clearly contradicts the Congress government's conservation stance and commitment to protect and expand forest cover.

28 of 30 mining proposals in Kappatagudda

Of the proposed 30 proposals, 28 areas fall within 10-km radius of Kappatagudda wildlife sanctuary. Though the SBWL deferred granting permission for mining licenses around protected forest areas, including that of Kappatagudda, environmentalists are wary and not confident that the government will entirely abandon the idea.

Environmentalist and writer Nagesh Hegde believes the state government's stand is 'anti-ecological'.

Hegde cited the Karnataka government's recent move, asking the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to withdraw the sixth draft notification it issued to declare Eco-Sensitive Areas (ESAs) of the Western Ghats, as an example.

Also, the Karnataka state government has made its stand very clear on the draft notification with respect to the Dr Kasturirangan Committee report on the Western Ghats issued by MoEF&CC on July 31. All of which has made environmentalists apprehensive about the future of Kappatagudda wildlife sanctuary.

Also read: Illegal mining: Karnataka ADGP claims Kumaraswamy trying to scuttle probe, lodges complaint

A conservation reserve

It is surprising that the Congress-led Karnataka government declared the lush green Kappatagudda Hills, which is rich in iron and gold ore deposits, a conservation reserve in 2015. The state made it clear that 89.92 hectares of forest area was being safeguarded to preserve the therapeutic plant species found inside it.

However, in a shocking reversal, the Karnataka Wildlife Board headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah withdrew the conservation tag in November 2017. This move irked environmentalists and seers of various religious mutts in the Gadag region, who accused the government of giving into pressure from the mining lobby.

The Nandiveri Samsthana Matha seer directly appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect the flora and fauna of the Kappatagudda forest range, which is spread over 32.346 hectares and is literally a treasure trove of rare flora, fauna and medicinal plants.

Also read: Karnataka government sticks to completely rejecting Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats

Shrinking forest cover

Environmentalists and seers from local mutts in the area are nervous because, in recent years, the state governments have succumbed to the mining lobby.

Some forest officials believe that 'when the mining lobby asked the government to bend, the state crawled'. As an example of this, they cited the government diverting around 20,805 hectares of forest land to infrastructure projects, including mining in the past two decades.

From 2001 to 2023, Karnataka lost 54.1 lakh hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 2.4 percent decrease in forest cover since 2000. Last September, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) also expressed its concern over forest cover shrinkage and questioned Karnataka’s decision to divert 4,228.21 acres of forest land to mining.

This anti-ecological stance of successive governments is why environmentalists question the government’s ‘real’ intentions.

Kappatagudda's sanctity

What makes Kappatagudda particularly precious that local people and environmentalists connect with it both emotionally and scientifically.

Kappatagudda is spread across Gadag, Mundargi and Shirahatti taluks and the hillock starts from Gadag, Binkadakatti village and extends up to Mundargi’s Sigataluru village. According to the former deputy conservator for forests, Yashpal Ksheerasagar, “There are about 500 important medicinal herbs available on the hillock.”

Environmentalist Chandrakant Chavan believed that Kappatagudda is the 'source of oxygen' for the people of Gadag, Shirahatti, and Mundargi. Home to temples and religious mutts, the people who reside in the heavily green-carpeted Kappatagudda hills of Gadag and surrounding 40 villages, have a deep bond with the ecosystem.

Also read: After rejecting Kasturirangan report for 6th time, Karnataka seeks its total withdrawal

Gold mining

Annadaneshwara Mahashivayogi Math's seer, Abhinava Annadaneshwara Swami accuses the government of acting under pressure from the mining lobby, as the hills are also rich in iron and gold ore deposits.

In fact, gold diggers have for years been searching for the precious metal in these hills. The discovery of gold ore in and around Gadag is not a recent phenomenon.

In the early 20th century, the Dharwad Gold Mines Limited and M/S John Taylor and Sons of London worked for eight years in the field to explore the possibility of digging up old. However, the poor gold recovery from the reefs forced the mining companies to shut down their operations.

According to Abhinava Annadaneshwara Swami, a Baldota Group company – Ramgadh Minerals and Mining Private Limited (RMML) – has been trying to set up a 1,000-tonne per day gold ore processing plant in Gadag district.

RMML had applied for 39.9 hectares (around 98.6 acres) of forest land for setting up Sangli Gold Mines at Jelligere in Kappatagudda in 2017. But when the state government declared 17,872 hectares of the area as a conservation reserve, RMML challenged this in the Karnataka high court, seeking the exclusion of 800 hectares-encapsulating their mining area.

However, the high court dismissed RMML’s plea. Moreover, in environmentalist Nagesh Hegde’s view, “the cost of extracting ore and processing costs is more than the market price of the gold and the project is not economical for any gold mining company”.

Another Ballari or Sandur?

Environmentalists and seers in Gadag and its surrounding districts are now worried that Kappatagudda will go down the same road as Ballari or Sandur. They want the government to completely drop the idea of allowing mining in and around Kappatagudda.

Also, they are urging the government against conducting a meeting of the State Board of Wildlife to take a call on the mining proposals before the board.

Speaking to The Federal, Gadag Tontadarya Mutt’s seer Siddarama Swami, and Nandiveri Mutt’s Shivakumar Swami said that the people of Gadag will not allow mining in and around Kappatagudda and they will oppose it tooth and nail.

“The government has deferred the decision on permitting mining in and around Kappatagudda. However, in case the government goes ahead and grants a mining license, it will be the first nail in the coffin for the serene and virgin Kappatagudda,” said Tontadarya Mutt seer Siddarama.

Protests against mining

Earlier, huge protests broke out in the area when the state government attempted to withdraw the wildlife sanctuary tag for the Kappatagudda hill range in 2019. Students, environmentalists, and seers of various mutts took out a procession and staged demonstrations.

People and devotees of Nandaveri Mutt have already launched a movement to save Kappatagudda.

For the past few years, the chairman of the Legislative Council, Basavaraj Horatti, has been urging the Karnataka government not to permit mining in the Kappatagudda region. In 2022, Horatti wrote to the BJP government to “say no to mining barons, who have set their eyes on the Kappatagudda forest region.”

Seers and environmentalists think that any government attempt to allow mining in and around Kappatagudda will result in massive protests.

The National Committee for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR) managed to stop RMML’s earlier attempts with the help of the judiciary.

Raghavendra Kushtagi of Jana Sangrama Parishat, Deepak C S of Samaja Parivartana Samudaya and SR Hirmath, founder president of NCPNR, said that they would stage protests and approach the courts to ensure that the government does not grant mining licenses in and around Kappatagudda.