Tata Gets Applause For Its Biodiversity Conservation

Tata Power Corporation was recently applauded in Romania for its conservation project in the Western Ghats of India.

Western ghats of India is facing a tremendous environmental problem due to soil erosion and siltation of the lakes. Even the large-scale deforestation done by the villagers to fulfill their needs for fuel wood has vacant the catchment areas making them barren. Deforestation has also reduced the population of indigenous plants of the region which in turn affects the flora and fauna. Another most common problem which this area faces is the forest fires. They creates additional threats to the biodiversity and ecology of the region and the survival of the trees.

Vivek Vishwasrao, Dr Satish Pande and Anand Padhye, three Pune-based environmentalist produced a thesis named 'Soil and Plant Biodiversity Conservation at Tata Power Western India' and presented it at a conference at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine at Lasi, Romania. The main focus of the paper was to highlight the challenges faced by Tata in designing, implementing and improving on its conservation policy.

Many delegates has showed great interest in this paper whose main emphasis was on the Tata Power Corporation's environment conservation efforts in the Western ghats.
Tata has created six dams at the Lonavala, Walwhan, Shirwata, Kundli, Mulshi and Thokerwadi of the Western ghats. These dams supplies water to the three hydroelectric power stations that are built by the company at Khopoli, Bhira and Bhivpuri. These power stations supplies 450 MW of electricity to Mumbai. The lakes created behind these damns and their catchment area were once known for their vast green forested area which are now submerged under water.

Mr. Vishwasrao, a horticulturist in Tata Power Company said that Tata is working hard to overcome the major barriers in the afforestation programmes in the Western ghats by correlating root length at the time of plantation with post fire survival to decide the time of shift of saplings from nursery to the fields and comparing alternative ways of plantation methods.

According to the Mr. Vishwasrao, the trench method of plantation is better for plant survival. Higher survival of plant was seen in trenches rather than in pits. After monsoon, the height and thickness of the grass was taller and closer to the saplings planted in pits as compared to saplings planted in trenches. It was also observed that after forest fires the saplings in pits were charred and burnt completely while those planted in trenches only burnt their leaves and branches.

In fact, Tata is now educating the villagers of the nearby area about which tree to cut and which not. So that the biodiversity of the region can be preserved. Mr. Visheshrao said that now the main emphasis of Tata is on saving and conserving the remaining natural forest cover and the afforestation of the degraded forest.