Death of Dondole falls

16 December 2007

We ruled out climbing Amedikallu and decided to go to Dondole falls, near Ujire. Here is a file photo of the falls found in web long ago.


Route from Ujire:
From Ujire, take the road towards Kottigehara. 10 kms from Ujire is Kakkinje. Take a right turn there to reach a village Anniyoor that is 6 kms from Kakkinje. At Anniyoor, go left and you will find a huge Church. Take the mud road that goes to left and travel for 4 kms to reach an estate. Falls is 2kms from estate.

We followed this direction and as we entered the estate, things were disturbing. What I thought would be a forest looked like a huge mine field. There were Lorries, worker sheds, and iron sheets, everything except greenery.

I enquired a guy playing badminton about the falls. First, he refused to acknowledge about the existence of the falls. I knew he was bluffing and upon further enquiry, he told that a dam is being constructed for mini hydro project just above the falls. He said there is no use of going to the falls. But anyway, we had come so far and also I wanted to know the state of the falls.

We then got down and started moving. The road was constructed to the dam and for that they had blasted a hill. The debris had almost covered the falls. It was a sad scene to watch. Irreparable damage has been done to the falls. The huge pipes, power generating plant, roads, worker sheds have all destroyed the forests.

I could not get much detail about the dam or the company building it nor about the permissions obtained for destruction.
But whatever it is, the chances of recovery are very remote and it is safe to say that Dondole falls is history.

After destroying Western Ghats for roads, mines and huge power plants, Government has come up with a new idea to continue the destruction of the forests, the mini hydro electricity projects. Soon, other falls like Bandaje, Koosalli, Irpu and Kudlu Theertha will follow the suit.

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