Echo-Eco – Save Protected Forest, Chengicherla, Hyderabad

Petition:
 Stop the shift of tanneries to Chengicherla.
 Shutdown the Meat Abbatoir situated at Chengicherla

In the beginning of May 2009, the first reports of the death of a dozen people and over 200 cases of cholera surfaced and the reasons for the incident is cited as the pollution and contamination because of the tanneries situated in Bholakpur, Hyderabad. The GHMC in its bid to show proactive response has decided to move the tanneries to Chengicherla.

This shift is a cause for major concern as Chengicherla is a protected forest area in the outskirts of the city, towards Uppal. This place hosts one of the biggest protected forest areas around the city. There are 2 forest reserves, one in Chengicherla and the other in Narapally, which are very close to the city and serve as the carbon sink for the entire city. The Chengicherla forest also houses a very rare species of the African Boabob trees which has a girth of around 25mts.

Details of the forest reserve:
Chengicherla - 259 Hectares
Animals found - Peacocks, birds, rabbits, snakes, leopards (occasionally)
Natural species - Teak, Thuniki (Beedi leaves), Durshan, Gum tree, Babool, Boabob Medicinal trees, Kancha Grass
Gap plantation species – Tamarind, Subabul, Glyacidia, Custard apple, Drum stick, Neem

Narapally – 329 Hectares
Animals found - Deer, birds, rabbits, snakes
Natural species – Rose wood, bamboo, tamarind, teak, berry, hardwood, neem , medicinal trees, gum trees

There is already a Meat Abattoir in Chengicherla which can slaughter around 5000 cattle every day. The estimated waste from this is around 20,000 kgs each day. The Abattoir is very poorly maintained and each morning a deadly stench emanates from the area. The Narapally Pedda cheruvu, an 8 acres diameter lake in this forest, is the recipient of the effluents from the Slaughter House.

The existing Abattoir also has 6 illegal bore wells dug in the Reserve Forest area and pipelines laid to the slaughter house. On 29th May 2009, Forest officials sealed these bore wells and booked a case against the owner of the Slaughter House.

This continuing practice will eventually dry up the forest and affect the livestock and community alike. With the shift of the tanneries here, there will be chemical effluents this will pollute the lake water, ground water and also render the soil barren.

This forest reserve has been protected with the help of the community that lives adjacent to the forests from 1994 with the help of M.V.Foundation, which works on environment protection. Over the years the community and MVF have invested their time; money and labour to rejuvenate the depleting forest cover and successfully protect it from urbanization, illegal encroachments and human greed. Their life and livelihood is strongly linked to the forests. Infact, they have done yeoman service by protecting these forests which in turn are the carbon sink for a large part of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Our protected forest areas are fast depleting due to the lack of sensitivity of powers and authorities. They are ignorant of the long term consequences of their actions on global warming.

Let us all get together and put an end to this callous behaviour. Please join the movement to protect our forest areas.

Thanking you

Yours truly,
Rohit Ranaganathan, Abishek Bharadwaj and Anusha Bharadwaj
(Green STARTers)
www.lets-start.weebly.com