Critical to the characterization process is the impact of Hydro-electric power projects in the Nilgiris, which have a distinct bearing not only on the river course and the river basin through dams and associated power houses, but also due to river course manipulation and the subsequent linkages that have been forged.

Pykara is one of the highest of south Indian streams originating in the Mukurti peak at an altitude of around 2400m ASL. It is the biggest stream in the Nilgiris Plateau. The stream flows over a number of cascades and waterfalls that it provides a drop of about 1000m before it reaches the Pykara Dam at Glenmorgan. Downstream, Pykara joins the River Moyar and eventually River Cauvery through its tributary, the River Bhavani.

The Pykara Hydroelectric Project Scheme was the first hydroelectric project that the state of Tamil Nadu (erstwhile Madras) launched and successfully implemented. The Project that was formally sanctioned during the British rule in 1929 was meant to generate and supply electricity for the industries in Coimbatore. Situated in the Nilgiris Plateau, the Pykara HP stands out as the highest in Asia and continue to be amongst the highest of hydroelectric projects in the world (source: Pell Frischmann Group and TNEB).

The Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydroelectric Project (PUSHEP) that was completed during the beginning of the 21st century was formally inaugurated in September 2005. The power generation capacity of PUSHEP is 150 MW.

Temporal and Spatial spread

The Pykara HP has been implemented in stages over a period of 75 years; PUSHEP being the final one. The spadework for the Project started in 1932. The first power-generating units were small with a capacity of 6.5 MW. Three such units were installed in the powerhouse located at Glenmorgan taking advantage of the run-of-river water alone. In order to enhance the available flow, two regulating storages were added.

These storages were located at Mukurti (upstream) and Pykara (downstream). The additional flow thus achieved enabled the installation of more power generation units. Subsequently, another storage dam was built across the Sandynallah stream. This reservoir was built to regulate and divert flows from a catchment of 44.03km² into the Pykara Dam. The network of reservoirs thus built helped achieve the set target of generating 70 MW of electricity.

In 1955, the Nilgiris Plateau experienced yet another major transformation due to the Kundah Hydroelectric Scheme. The Kundah HS led to the creation of Avalanche Dam (372m long; 57.66m high) and Emerald Dam (328.6m long; 65.72m high) around Portimund within the Kundah basin. A 733.77m long horseshoe-shaped tunnel that had the capacity to discharge 900 cusecs of water connected the two dams. The Avalanche and Emerald streams were tributaries that directly fed Pykara before the dams were constructed.Two other dams were constructed across the tributaries of Pykara in 1965; Parson’s Valley Dam (14.5km²) and Portimund Dam (10.6km²). These dams enhanced the volume of water that got diverted into the Kundah basin.

The Naduvattam Diversion Project completed in 1976 harnessed water from the 12.82km² Naduvattam basin that lies to the west of Pykara basin. In order to augment further the power generation capacity of the Pykara HP, water was diverted from the 12.95km² Lone Valley and Melkodmund stream in the Nilgiris Plateau; both streams flowed between Pykara and Sandynallah. The huge volume of water thus diverted into the Pykara Dam necessitated the enlargement of the fore bay. The enlargement of the Pykara fore bay was completed in 1978-79.

During the 1990s when the Pykara HP was in its final stage of implementation (PUSHEP) it had a well-established network of reservoirs that harnessed water from a catchment fed by Pykara, Sandynallah, Naduvattam, Melkodmund and Lone Valley streams (tributaries of River Moyar). The catchment has provided the gross storage necessary for making PUSHEP operational and generating the additional 150MW of electricity that was envisaged).

During 1946-52, the Moyar Hydroelectric Scheme was implemented. The Scheme was implemented using the tail water of the Pykara HP. The project is located at a distance of 16km downhill of the Pykara (Glenmorgan) power station. The Moyar HS also benefits by the water that is diverted from the Maravakandy Dam (located north-east of Masinagudi) through a flume channel. At Maravakandy there is a mini-hydroelectric scheme capable of producing 2.6 MW of power (Tyagi, 1995). The Maravakandy-Moyar flume channel is 6.81km long and 10.86m wide. The Moyar Ultimate Stage Hydroelectric Project (MUSHEP) that was proposed in 1995-1996 had envisaged the widening of the flume channel by another 2m. The channel that is around 2m deep had 19 bridges across it; 3 wide (5-11m), 16 narrow (1-5m) and 3 underground passages. The various hydroelectric projects that were implemented since 1932 in the Nilgiris Plateau together established a 53km network of tunnels (INO, 2007).

Social Assessment to ensure compliance to CEPF Policy on Indigenous People

We proposed the project titled ‘Building a Grassroots Constituency to Conserve the River Moyar in the Mysore-Nilgiri Corridor on the premise that conservation programmes in the region have until date largely been perfunctory. We also found it ideal to propose a programme that takes a landscape approach rather be constrained by a politically or administratively defined unit, to ensure that the coverage is vast and uniform. The third and the most important factor that motivated us to propose this project is the fact that conservation research or programmes in the proposed project area have hitherto been very scarce in studying or involving human communities. It needs to be mentioned though that there have been a number of anthropological inquiries on the indigenous communities of the Nilgiris, largely during the Colonial period.

The proposed project design which takes the course of River Moyar as the deciding factor, covers at least five panchayats (decentralized grass root level planning and administrative units). This coverage though is not uniform. While the three panchayats viz Masinagudi, Mudumalai and Sholur would be most critical, the other two cover the fringe areas.

In-depth demographic studies of the three panchayats have not been carried out in the past; our preliminary assessment suggests that the landscape is home to the following broad categories of humans viz.

1. Early settlers – largely during Pre-Colonial period who are now under the scheduled caste category of backward and most backward residing as homogenous units
2. Recent settlers – mostly migrants in search of livelihoods
3. Recent settlers – tribal communities – mostly communities in search of livelihood opportunities, landless labour and communities displaced from adjacent districts.
4. Scheduled Tribes / Indigenous tribal communities – the original residents of the landscape, a number of endogamous groups. Notable for their involvement in the protection of the landscape. View themselves as custodians of the forest. Strong presence of customary rights and regulation in the use of natural resources. Notable are the Kurumbas (and their four sub-groups) and Irulars. Scheduled Tribes.
5. The Scheduled Caste communities – considered the lowest in caste hierarchy. Not recognized by any past intervention in the landscape.

In view of the above, and also the past experience of working in other landscapes we propose the following:

The key outcome of the proposed project is the micro-plan, taking into consideration the following aspects:

• the project will not propose or create new jobs or provide dole in any form
• the project will recognize traditional and local institutions where indigenous and tribal communities are represented
• the project will ensure that no community is excluded because of their caste or tribal identity
• the project will ensure that marginal groups within the communities such as women are represented strongly.
• the project will attempt to understand and incorporate local cultural beliefs and norms for micro planning and will not seek to alter the same.

The project will be implemented only after consultations are held at the field level. These will be facilitated by the Gram sabha (an entity that is strictly voluntary and representative of all the communities) and the elected panchayat.

The proceedings of these consultations will be developed into mutual agreements.

The project will be jointly implemented with the Gram sabha and the panchayat. And as detailed in the proposal, it will be subjected to local review.

The Gram Sabha and the elected Panchayat for each community where the project will be implemented will function as a grievance mechanism for Indigenous People or other local communities who have any concerns or grievances about the project to raise them with the project team. In the unlikely event that a grievance is raised, Arulagam will ask the relevant Gram Sabha or Panchayat to convene a meeting between the project team and the affected parties, in order to resolve the conflict.

Arulagam will seek to hold these meetings within one month of any grievance being communicated to them. Any grievance raised will be communicated to CEPF, together with minutes from the meeting held to address them, plus a detailed plan of remedial action.

Long term sustainability of the project will be ensured will the project team working closely with the Gram Sabha and the Panchayat to develop proposals for the consideration of the State and Central Government, Other Non governmental organizations and Donor Agencies.

As a collaborative group of institutions striving to reconcile conservation and development goals, we appreciated the safeguards policy of CEPF and shall strive to adhere to all the issues/concerns and terms listed in the policy document.

S.No.	Name of the Species	Source of Information
		Mukherji	Srinivasan & Ganesan	Rajan	Menon	Yazdani et al	CEPF Project
1	Amblypharyngodon melettinus			+
2	Anguilla bengalensis*		+	+			+
3	Aorichthys aor		+
4	Aorichthys seenghala		+				+
5	Barbodes bovanicus				+	+
6	Barbodes carnaticus	+	+	+	+	+	+
7	Barbodes jerdoni			+		+	+
8	Barbodes sarana		+	+		+	+
9	Barilius bendelisis			+		+	+
10	Barilius gatensis	+		+	+	+	+
11	Catla catla		+				+
12	Channa gachua		+	+	+	+
13	Channa marulius*		+				+
14	Channa punctatus		+			+
15	Channa striatus		+

Annotated List of Fishes Identified from the Bhavani-Moyar and Bhavani Sagar Riparian

Mukherji D D (1937) On a small collection of fish from the Bhavani river (S. India) BNHS35: 162-171 R Srinivasan and R Ganesan (1955) Contributions from the freshwater biological research station Bhavanisagar, Madras State No 1 Rajan, S (1955). Notes on a collection of fish from the headwaters of Bhavani river, south India. JBNHS 53: 44-48& Rajan, S (1963) Ecology of the fishes of rivers Pykara and Moyar (Nilgiris), S. India. Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. 58 (B): 291-323 Menon, A G K (1999) Checklist –Freshwater Fishes of India, ZSI/Occasional Paper No 175 Yazdani, G M, Rema Devi, K, Raghunathan, M B and Singh, F D (2001) Fauna of Conservation Areas, Series 11: Fauna of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Zoological Survey of India, pp207-224; this list is based on published information and 25 surveys in and around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve; only those specifically mentioned as Bhavani and/or Moyar Rivers are included. CEPF- Team: R J Ranjit Daniels, C Chenna Krishnan, N Muthu Karthick, K Ramasamy (Tracker), L Selvam (Fisherman), Kumar (Driver-cum-fisherman), Mahesh (Forest Guard), Das (Forest Watcher); Fish reported/seen during the field trip to Bhavani Sagar and Moyar River in February (8-11) 2011 and April (10-11) 2011

S.No.	Name of the Species	Indirect Evidence	Encounter Rate/km	% Encounter Rate
1	Tiger (Panthera tigris)	7	0.2	2.4
2	Leopard (Panthera pardus)	5	0.1	1.7
3	Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)	10	0.2	3.4
4	Wild Dog or Dhole (Cuon alpinus)	4	0.1	1.4
5	Striped Hyena (Hyena hyena)	2	0.0	0.7
6	Chital (Axis axis)	70	1.5	23.8
7	Sambar (Rusa unicolor)	26	0.6	8.8
8	Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)	2	0.0	0.7
9	Black-naped Hare (Lepus nigricollis)	3	0.1	1.0
10	Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus)	101	2.2	34.4
11	Gaur (Bos gaurus)	5	0.1	1.7
12	Feral Buffalo (Bubalus sp.)	12	0.3	4.1
13	Wild Pig (Sus scrofa)	6	0.1	2.0
14	Indian Porcupine (Hystrix indica)	17	0.4	5.8
15	Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata)	3	0.1	1.0
16	Oriental Small-clawed Otter (Aonyx cinerea)	6	0.1	2.0
17	Bengal Monitor Lizard (Varanus bengalensis)	1	0	0.3
18	Marsh Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)	14	0.3	4.8

S.No.	Name of the Species	# sightings	# individuals	Mean group size	Encounter Rate/km
1	Chital (Axis axis)	9	110	12.2	2.39
2	Sambar (Rusa unicolor)	3	6	2	0.13
3	Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)	3	6	2	0.13
4	Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus)	3	11	3.7	0.24
5	Gaur (Bos gaurus)	3	8	2.7	0.17
6	Feral Buffalo (Bubalus sp.)	4	37	9.25	0.81
7	Wildpig (Sus scrofa)	2	3	1.5	0.07
8	Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata)	12	86	7.17	1.87
9	Tufted Gray langur (Semnopithecus priam)	13	159	12.23	3.46
10	Indian Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica)	6	7	1.17	0.15
11	Oriental small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea)	1	2	2	0.04
12	Bengal Monitor Lizard (Varanus bengalensis)	3	3	1	0.07
13	Marsh Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)	10	14	1.4	0.30
14	Indian Rock Python (Python molurus molurus)	1	1	1	0.02

S.No.	Family	Species	Habit	Nativity
1	Combretaceae	Terminalia cuneata Roxb	Tree	Native
2	Fabaceae	Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre	Tree	Native
3	Myrtaceae	Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels	Tree	Native
4	Ebenaceae	Diospyros malabarica (Desr.) Kostel.	Tree	Native
5	Euphorbiaceae	Homonoia riparia Lour.	Shrub	Native
6	Sapotaceae	Madhuca neriifolia (Moon) H.J. Lam.	Tree	Native
7	Euphorbiaceae	Trewia nudiflora L.	Tree	Native
8	Anacardiaceae	Mangifera indica L.	Tree	Native
9	Melastomataceae	Memecylon umbellatum Burm.	Tree	Native
10	Poaceae	Bambusa bambos Voss	Tree	Native
11	Rubiaceae	Ixora pavetta Andr.	Tree	Native
12	Lythraceae	Lagerstroemia microcarpa Wight	Tree	Native
13	Meliaceae	Azadirachta indica A. Juss.	Tree	Burma
14	Caesalpiniaceae	Bauhinia racemosa Lam.	Tree	Native
15	Sapindaceae	Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken	Tree	Native
16	Rubiaceae	Canthium coromandelicum (Burm. F.) Alston	Shrub	Native
17	Meliaceae	Aglaia elaeagnoidea (Juss.) Benth.	Tree	Native
18	Celastraceae	Pleurostylia opposita (Wall.) Alston	Tree	Native
19	Celastraceae	Cassine glauca (Rottb.) Kuntze	Tree	Native
20	Bignoniaceae	Stereospermum colais (Buch.-Ham. ex Dillw.) Mabb.	Tree	Native
21	Rhamnaceae	Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.	Tree	Native
22	Salicaceae	Salix tetrasperma Roxb.	Tree	Native
23	Loganiaceae	Strychnos nux-vomica L.	Tree	Native
24	Rubiaceae	Pavetta indica L. ex K. Schum.	Shrub	Native
25	Verbenaceae	Vitex leucoxylon L.f.	Tree	Native
26	Fabaceae	Dalbergia latifolia Roxb.	Tree	Native
27	Solanaceae	Datura sanguinea Ruiz & Pavon	Shrub	Tropical America
28	Rubiaceae	Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth.	Tree	Native
29	Euphorbiaceae	Phyllanthus polyphyllus Willd.	Tree	Native
30	Verbenaceae	Vitex altissima L.f.	Tree	Native
31	Euphorbiaceae	Drypetes roxburghii (Wall.) Hurusawa	Tree	Native
32	Caprifoliaceae	Viburnum punctatum Buch. - Ham. ex D. Don	Liane	Native
33	Tiliaceae	Grewia tiliifolia Vahl.	Tree	Native
34	Mimosaceae	Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) Dc.	Tree	Tropical America
35	Myrtaceae	Psidium guajava L.	Tree	Native
36	Rhamnaceae	Ziziphus oenoplia (L.) Mill.	Liane	Native
37	Combretaceae	Terminalia elliptica Willd.	Tree	Native
38	Boraginaceae	Cordia monoica Roxb.	Tree	Native
39	Rutaceae	Glycosmis mauritiana (Lam.) Tanaka	Shrub	Native
40	Caesalpiniaceae	Tamarindus indica L.	Tree	Tropical Africa
41	Ulmaceae	Celtis timorensis Spanoghe	Tree	Native
42	Melastomataceae	Memecylon grande Retz.	Tree	Native
43	Rutaceae	Atalantia monophylla (L.) Correa	Tree	Native
44	Euphorbiaceae	Jatropha curcas L.	Shrub	Tropical America
45	Caesalpiniaceae	Cassia fistula L.	Tree	Native
46	Rubiaceae	Psydrax dicoccos Gaertn.	Tree	Native
47	Oleaceae	Olea dioica Roxb.	Tree	Native
48	Rutaceae	Pleiospermium alatum Swingle	Tree	Native
49	Euphorbiaceae	Bischofia javanica Blume	Tree	Native
50	Moraceae	Ficus microcarpa L.f.	Tree	Native
51	Sapotaceae	Mimusops elengi L.	Tree	Native
52	Meliaceae	Cipadessa baccifera (Roth) Miq.	Tree	Native
53	Mimosaceae	Entada pursaetha DC.	Liane	Native
54	Verbenaceae	Lantana camara L.	Shrub	Tropical America
55	Tiliaceae	Grewia serrulata DC.	Tree	Native
56	Burseraceae	Garuga pinnata Roxb.	Tree	Native
57	Verbenaceae	Premna latifolia Rozb. var. latifolia	Tree	Native
58	Bignoniaceae	Radermachera xylocarpa (Roxb.) K.Schum.	Tree	Native
59	Euphorbiaceae	Phyllanthus emblica L.	Tree	Native
60	Dipterocarpaceae	Shorea roxburghii G. Don.	Tree	Native
61	Moraceae	Ficus hispida L.f.	Tree	Native
62	Caesalpiniaceae	Cassia spectabilis DC.	Tree	Tropical America
63	Salvadoraceae	Salvadora persica L.	Tree	Native
64	Euphorbiaceae	Aporosa acuminata Thw.	Tree	Native
65	Rubiaceae	Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirvengadum	Tree	Native
66	Loganiaceae	Strychnos potatorum L.	Tree	Native
67	Combretaceae	Combretum albidum G. Don	Liane	Native
68	Fabaceae	Dalbergia paniculata Roxb.	Tree	Native
69	Ebenaceae	Diospyros montana Roxb.	Tree	Native
70	Rhamnaceae	Ziziphus xylopyrus (Retz.) Willd.	Tree	Native
71	Sapindaceae	Sapindus emarginatus Vahl	Tree	Native
72	Caesalpiniaceae	Senna occidentalis (L.) Link	Shrub	Tropical America
73	Euphorbiaceae	Breynia vitis-idaea (Burm.f.) Fischer	Shrub	Native
74	Meliaceae	Walsura trifolia (A. Juss.) Harms	Tree	Native
75	Erythroxylaceae	Erythroxylum monogynum Roxb.	Tree	Native
76	Sapindaceae	Filicium decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thw.	Tree	Native
77	Verbenaceae	Tectona grandis L.f.	Tree	Native
78	Combretaceae	Anogeissus latifolia (Roxb. Ex DC.) Wall	Tree	Native
79	Caesalpiniaceae	Senna didymobotrya (Fresn.) Irwin & Barneby	Shrub	Non Native
80	Smilacaceae	Smilax zeylanica L.	Shrub	Native
81	Rutaceae	Chloroxylon swietenia DC.	Tree	Native
82	Boraginaceae	Cordia obliqua Willd.	Tree	Native
83	Sterculiaceae	Helicteres isora L.ShrubNative
84	Hernandiaceae	Gyrocarpus asiaticus Willd.	Tree	Native
85	Combretaceae	Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.	Tree	Native
86	Apocynaceae	Carissa carandas L.	Shrub	Native
87	Celastraceae	Maytenus heyneana (Roth) Raju & Babu	Shrub	Native
88	Simaroubaceae	Ailanthus excelsa Roxb.	Tree	Native
89	Euphorbiaceae	Phyllanthus reticulatus Poir.	Shrub	Native
90	Rubiaceae	Psilanthus wightianus (Wight & Arn.) J. Leroy	Shrub	Native
91	Myrtaceae	Syzygium tamilnadensis Rathakr. & Chithra	Tree	Native
92	Mimosaceae	Albizia lebbeck (L.) Willd.	Tree	Native
93	Bixaceae	Bixa orellana L.	Tree	Tropical America
94	Euphorbiaceae	Glochidion zeylanicum (Gaertn.) Juss.	Tree	Native
95	Ulmaceae	Trema orientalis (L.) Blume	Tree	Native
96	Moraceae	Ficus benjamina L.	Tree	Malaysian
97	Myrsinaceae	Ardisia solanacea Roxb.	Tree	Native
98	Bignoniaceae	Dolichandrone atrovirens Sprague	Tree	Native
99	Moraceae	Ficus benghalensis L.	Tree	Native
100	Euphorbiaceae	Ricinus communis L.	Shrub	Tropical America
101	Moraceae	Ficus tsjahela Burm.f.	Tree	Native
102	Fabaceae	Derris scandens (Roxb.) Benth	Liane	Native
103	Meliaceae	Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq.	Tree	Native
104	Mimosaceae	Albizia amara (Roxb.) Boivin	Tree	Native
105	Burseraceae	Commiphora caudata (Wight & Arn.) Engler	Tree	Native
106	Caesalpiniaceae	Delonix regia (Boj. ex Hook) Rafin.	Tree	South East Asia
107	Ebenaceae	Diospyros ferrea (Willd.) Bakh.	Shrub	Native
108	Moraceae	Ficus mollis Vahl	Tree	Native
109	Euphorbiaceae	Givotia rottleriformis Griff.	Tree	Native
110	Tiliaceae	Grewia hirsuta Vahl.	Shrub	Native
111	Olacaceae	Olax scandens Roxb.	Liane	Native
112	Euphorbiaceae	Bridelia crenulata Roxb.	Tree	Native
113	Poaceae	Dendrocalamus strictus (Roxb.) Nees	Shrub	Native
114	Fabaceae	Erythrina variegata L.	Tree	Native
115	Moringaceae	Moringa concanensis Nimmo ex Gibs.	Tree	Native
116	Rubiaceae	Wendlandia thyrsoidea (Schultes) Steud.	Shrub	Native
117	Rhamnaceae	Ziziphus glabrata Heyne ex Roth	Tree	Native
118	Mimosaceae	Acacia leucophloea (Roxb.) Willd.	Tree	Native
119	Alangiaceae	Alangium salvifolium (L.f.) Wang.	Tree	Native
120	Mimosaceae	Albizia saman (Jacq.) F.v. Muell.	Tree	Tropical America
121	Bignoniaceae	Dolichandrone arcuata (Wight) Clarke	Tree	Native
122	Bignoniaceae	Dolichandrone falcata (Wall.ex DC.) Seem.	Tree	Native
123	Moraceae	Ficus racemosa L.	Tree	Native
124	Flacourtiaceae	Flacourtia ramontchi L' Hér	Tree	Native
125	Lythraceae	Lawsonia inermis L.	Shrub	Native
126	Rubiaceae	Morinda pubescens J.E. Smith	Tree	Native
127	Pandanaceae	Pandanus odoratissimus L.f.	Shrub	Native
128	Euphorbiaceae	Phyllanthus indofischeri Bennet	Tree	Native
129	Anacardiaceae	Spondias pinnata (L.f.) Kurz	Tree	Native
130	Apocynaceae	Wrightia arborea (Dennst.) Mabberley	Tree	Native
131	Apocynaceae	Wrightia tinctoria (Roxb.)	Tree	Native