AFTER the passage of almost a decade since its conception, the 4,060-mw Indo-Bhutan Sankosh hydel project finally seems to be taking off. The Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS), a government of India undertaking, has recently conducted an environment impact assessment of the project and according to S Mukherjee, head, Centre for Environment, wapcos, will submit its report to the Central Water Commission (CWC) within a few days. However, a preliminary investigation conducted by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) feel that the project has all the makings of being an environmental disaster.

The project, estimated to cost a whopping sum of approximately Rs 15,000 crore, envisages a 250 m high main dam on the river Sankosh near the Kalikhola area of Bhutan. This dam would be supplemented by a 45 m high lift-dam further downstream, whose basic purpose would be to create a natural gradient for the river and then channelise its water through a 141-km long canal across the northern part of West Bengal into the Tista river. According to the wpsi report, the proposed canal would "spell total doom' to the wildlife of the area. It will start from Kalikhola in Bhutan and then run through the core area of Buxa Tiger Reserve, which includes the Pana, Bhuti, and Bharua Bedi sanctuary blocks. The report states that the canal, which is 60 m wide and six m deep with a bed width of 26 m, will "cut off populations of all wildlife species from one side to another, and will cut off the gene flow and migratory routes of various endangered species, especially, the elephant'.

The canal will also cut through the traditional annual migration route of wild elephants of north Bengal from the river Torsa to the river Tista, states the report. The degree of deforestation involved would also be a great deal, causing denudation of 700 ha of prime forest land.

The wapcos report has suggested some