The Kasturirangan Varadi Virodhi Horata Samiti (Anti-Kasturirangan Report Committee) has called for a ‘Hebri Bandh’ on Wednesday, to protest against the recommendations of the panel for the conservation of Western Ghats.
Naveen Adyanthaya, president of the samiti, told reporters here on Tuesday that the bandh will be effective from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. A protest meeting will be held at the Hebri Bus Stand at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The implementation of the recommendations of the report will affect the people living in Hebri-Chara, Belanje-Kuchur, Nadpal and Kabbinale villages, he said.
The people in these four villages have been involved in agriculture and horticulture for generations. The report does not permit the use of chemical fertilisers, and it is not possible to survive by just organic farming, he said.
There were many rice mills and cashew factories in the region. These factories will have to be closed as these four villages had been marked under the orange zone. This will throw thousands of youth working in these mills and factories out of work. The report will have a catastrophic impact on the local economy, he said.
The people of these villages were not against the conservation of Western Ghats. But the report had been prepared merely on the basis of satellite images. Those preparing the report had not visited the villages or taken the opinions of the people. “Hence, the government should keep these four villages outside the ambit of the report,” he said.
The government could however bring the areas under reserve forests and the Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in these four villages, under the jurisdiction of the report, he said. Honorary president of the Samiti Bhaskar Jois, vice-president Prasanna Kumar, secretary Dinesh Shetty and joint-secretary Sudhakar Hegde were present.
