Lease for windmill cancelled

BANGALORE: In a bid to protect the ecology of Bababudangiri Hills, D K Rangaswamy, District Commissioner DC of Chikamagalur has withdrawn the lease given to Chennai-based M/s BB Hills Wind Farm Development Private Limited.The government had originally leased 305.37 acres of land to Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) for 30 years to setup 124 windmills. The KREDL had further sub-leased the area to the Chennai-based company. In between, Chikamagalur-based wildlife conservationists Manish Kumar and few others from the Wildcat-C had challenged the land grant in the local court, as the land consisted of Shola forests and natural grasslands in the Western Ghats.