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UPSC Prelims 2005 · Environment · Wild Places
Consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Silent Valley National Park is in the Nallamalai range.
- Pathrakkadavu Hydroelectric Project is proposed to be built near the Silent Valley National Park.
- The Kunthi river originates in Silent Valley’s rainforests.
- (a) 1 and 3
- (b) 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (c) 2 and 3
The Pathrakkadavu project and the Kunthi’s source are right; the park is in the Nilgiris.
Statement by statement
1. ✗ WRONG Silent Valley is in the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats (Palakkad, Kerala). Nallamala is in the Eastern Ghats.
2. ✓ CORRECT The Pathrakkadavu project was proposed on the Kunthipuzha, just downstream of the park.
3. ✓ CORRECT The Kunthipuzha rises in the Silent Valley forests.
The idea
Silent Valley is a patch of untouched tropical rainforest in Palakkad district of Kerala, in the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats. The river Kunthipuzha begins inside it and flows out through a narrow gorge, which is why dam builders have twice looked at it.
Rainforest on the Nilgiri slopes → Kunthipuzha rises here → Flows down to join the Bharathapuzha → First dam plan dropped in 1983 → Second plan (Pathrakkadavu) proposed just outside the park
The trap
Nallamala was the answer to the previous question too — here it is put in the wrong place.
Also know
The park is the core of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the best home of the lion-tailed macaque, which depends on the fruit of tall rainforest trees. The Nallamala range is in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
🔒 Silent Valley: Nilgiris (Western Ghats), Kunthipuzha river, lion-tailed macaque.