Tamil Nadu's failure to constitute a State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) is posing problems for at least three major projects mooted by the AIADMK government, including the much anticipated 2X500 mw coal-based thermal power plant at Tuticorin.    

Union Ministry of Environment and Forests said that three proposals that came up for clearance were turned down at a recent meeting of the standing committee for National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), which said these were submitted directly by the state without getting the mandatory approval of the state board.    

The committee then found that Tamil Nadu was the only one state in the country that had not constituted the SBWL. Like NBWL, which frames wildlife protection policies at the national level, SBWL is expected to undertake the task at the state level. Any project that could have an impact on a protected wildlife area has to get the clearance of both SBWL and NBWL.    

The refusal of NBWL to discuss the Tuticorin power plant mooted jointly by Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited and the State Department of Power happens at a time when Tamil Nadu is facing an extraordinary energy crisis. According to NBWL standing committee member and senior wildlife scientist AJT Johnsingh, there is no option left before the State government other than to constitute SBWL at the earliest.    

The NBWL clearance is mandatory for the Tuticorin project as it comes within the 10 km periphery of Mullakadu range of forests.