I just found this picture from 1994.
The hut in the picture is kaivalya kudir where sadhguru conducted first 90 days wholeness program now this hut is renovated to a building and dyanalinga is 50–70 m from this place. Just count the trees around this hut in the picture and now you go to coimbatore asram and now count ow many trees are there. If you find less trees than this now allegations is true but
Current day pic:
one Rectangular building on top left is renovated kaivalya kudir and you can see tree density has increased.
Note the picture in the right top corner. The dome in construction is dyanalinga and just above that mark the 2 buildings. the 2 building you marked is in bottom right (one triangle shaped and other is brown building) and this pic is taken opposite to the hill.
and this pic is taken standing from the hill so look at the boundary the trees are still there and just note the top area of the picture.You can notice that is agriculture land and adiyogi statue is situated near that. If you go now you can see the still agriculture is going on around adiyogi. So just from plain inspection it is clear that isha didnt destroyed any forest.
If you still have doubt about it then just go to isha and get some old archive videos or pictures (many archives that is not in internet should be there) and compare it and decide. Don’t believe in allegations.
Regarding Elephant corridor.
In the above picture at bottom there is one route going towards left and that is path to forest and in the junction there is forest department check post. in the middle of the picture you can notice there is one path going left and that path is way to vellingiri temple and each year many people visit this place and climb vellingiri mountain and above that path is the start of velligiri mountain. Vertical road from bottom to top which connects these 2 path is boundary between forest and agriculture land.
Between path to vellingiri temple and path towards forest is plains and it is covered by forest and there is a possibility of elephant in this area when weather is very dry. To reach isha we have to go 1 km from there.
west side of isha is covered by mountains and east side is covered by agriculture lands. Mostly elephant will not walk in slopes and that restrict elephant movement after the path to vellingiri nathar temple.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-397558/Elephants-dont-hills-scientists-reveal.html
Only the path which goes to isha crossing vellingiri temple will be blocked after night 8 or 9 by forest department to ensure safety. Inside isha there is no warning or fear of elephants even in dark. No one reported elephant movement. Mountain slope should have restricted elephant movement.
Towards east of isha yoga center you can see lot of agriculture lands if there are any elephant movement in those place people would not prefer it for agriculture.
Now as visitors has increased isha has shifted the entrace to malai vasal which is away from this road. Next question can be why isha is acquiring agriculture lands. Isha is doing agriculture in those lands for its kitchen needs and medicine needs. Lot of farmers are selling their land in that semmadu area and you can find few agriculture lands in sites like india properties and if you are interested to do agriculture you can also buy.
Edit1:
Regarding Piyush Manush allegations:
I have a deep respect for Piyush and i still respect him. I have watched all the allegation videos of him. He looks biased against isha and Sadhguru. First he said isha occupied Forest and elephant corridor. If any of the allegations is true then taking legal action is not difficult. But in recent videos he said that he is not saying Sadhguru encroached forest land but he is affecting forest environment. To check this go to ashram and see for yourself and report how they are polluting forest or its ecology.
One might argue that sadhguru has good relation with Central government so taking action is difficult but the place where ashram lies is Tamil Nadu. Lot of political parties and activists in tamil nadu is against BJP so if Sadhguru is close to BJP then targeting sadhguru and isha will gather lot of support from the like minded people and top TV channels will cover that news. So i feel if they really had a proof then Foundation will not be present there by now.
In most of his videos he mentioned that sadhguru told he planted 1 crore trees in tamil nadu and 7 lakhs tress in salem but none is planted.
This are the 3 way PGH works and i have added my comment on each one…
Trees for All
In this model, saplings are handed out as part of the education programs teaching people about the multiple benefits that trees offer. Each year, millions of saplings are grown by an expanding network of volunteer-driven nurseries and handed out to anyone who pledges to care for each tree for a minimum of 2 years. Awareness programs are also organized in educational institutions, offices and public functions, and saplings are distributed.
16.79 million saplings have been planted through this model thus far.
My comment: To validate this number you have to contact the volunteer who got the sapling and have to check with them. But to see this activity you can follow the PGH facebook page. It is not that Sadhguru planted all the trees but is was done by Volunteers and their network of friend and common people who has no association with isha but got the sapling from PGH. The actual sapling count delivered and actual trees grown from that sapling is hard to verify but in worst case scenario if you consider 50% is the rate then 8 million is a great number.
This is facebook page of Project green hands
Trees for Life
This initiative promotes the planting of ecologically and economically beneficial tree saplings in farmlands, thereby offsetting or increasing farmers’ income. The trees’ yields reduce expenditures and offer the possibility of future income through small-scale forest enterprises.
To date, 3.84 million saplings have been planted through this initiative.
My Comment: The saplings given in this category’s sapling to tree ratio will be close to 100 because it is grown in agriculture land and all these saplings will benefit farmers so farmers will take care of this. There is isha agro movement youtube channel that has some testimonials and also isha PGH helped many farmers to create agro forestry. If you have piece of land PGH volunteers will advice what type of trees can be grown and how to maintain it. If you ask me i would say this is challenging job taken by PGH because you have to show result to farmers by increasing their income otherwise they will not show interest in planting tress and they take complete responsibility and it is successful project for PGH.
Green School Movement
The Green School Movement aims to create “green consciousness” in the younger generation by training them in sapling production and plantation through school nurseries. Right from sowing the seeds to finally growing it into a tree, children are involved in every aspect of the project. Environmental education is delivered as an experience, rather than something in a textbook.
3.18 million saplings have been planted by students through the Green School Movement.
My Comment: Planting trees are done by school students and PGH volunteers reach out to them. i dont think school students do this just for publicity so even if you consider 80% success rate you will have 2.8 millon trees. You can verify this in PGH facebook page.
If you read my comments for all the 3 PGH plans then if you underestimate thier count then the total tress in tamil nadu associated with PGH is mimumum 14.64 million trees. I dont know about the actual ratio but it should be more than this count.
But piyush in his video says not one trees has been planted and it is complete lie. I dont know what vengeance he has with isha and Sadhguru but he is spreading lies and hiding the isha’s work in social media and lies are spreading more because isha advertise less on good work they are doing and only if you have benefited or you meet any one who is benefited you will know the work they are doing otherwise it is easy for one to believe lies.
It might be shock for you to know that isha advertise less on what they are doing on ground because you might have seen lot of banner and news paper ads for isha yoga program and mahasivaratri but notice carefully those are invitations. Because of knowing thier good work and honesty millions of volunteers are still supporting and working for the good cause even after hearing the bashing from some activists.
In a tamil movie there is a saying “
உண்மை ஜெய்கிறதுக்கு தான் ஆதாரம் தேவை பொய் ஜெய்கிறதுக்கு குழப்பம் போதும்
(For a truth to win we need lot of evidence but for allegation to win we have to create just a confusion)
This is path traveled by PGH.