The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) has sought a National Green Tribunal (NGT)-monitored sustainable mountain development plan for the Nilgiris.The NDC has called for the constitution of a “high-level, interdisciplinary panel” to implement short-term measures to arrest the damage currently being inflicted on the hills, and long-term efforts to “bring back” the district to a sustainable mountain development model, said honorary director of the NDC, Venugopal Dharmalingam, in a press release.Till such a plan is drafted and a scientific assessment of the present state of the Nilgiris ecology is completed, the government should announce a moratorium on major development projects.“The people of The Nilgiris have appealed to the NGT to save the unique but beleaguered hills and bring them under established principles of sustainable mountain development,” he said.“The Nilgiris is racing against time and mindless greed, with disaster looming large. Landslip-prone areas in the district have alarmingly increased though the district administration claims otherwise. While all indications show that the Nilgiris had long exhausted its hydro electric potential, a string of mega pumped storage projects have been proposed with scant regard for the survival of the district or its indigenous people,” he said. Civic amenities need a revamp as over 30 lakh tourist visitors to the district are now increasingly seen as a burden than a benefit due to mismanagement.“The Master Plan, which has not been reviewed for 30 years, has been turned into a master plot by vested interests and outside investors. Building permission and rules are flouted at will regardless of the threat they pose to the ecosystem. The Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA), which was conceived as an agency for conservation of the hill areas, has been converted into an agency to sanction mega commercial buildings,” he alleged. Further, a ban on cutting rosewood trees has been lifted.“The district-wide decarbonisation project in force is out of sync with the activities of the various departments. A prominent case in point is the impending destruction of the 50-acre race course in Ooty, which is the only open space left, for putting up a crude entertainment park,” he said. Published - July 14, 2026 07:27 pm IST