The State government’s delay in taking a decision on restoring the ‘conservation reserve tag’ for Kappatagudda in Gadag district has resulted in the ‘Save Kappatagudda’ campaign gaining momentum. Gadag’s Gandhi Circle will see a congregation of scores of organisations participating in a three-day ‘day and night’ dharna for the cause from Monday.
With the seer of Tontadarya Mutt, Gadag, Sri Siddhalinga Swami taking the lead just like he did in the case of a huge movement against Korean steel giant POSCO, the support for the campaign is swelling with each passing day.
Background
The Karnataka State Board of Wildlife cleared a proposal to declare 17,872 hectares of the reserve forest of Kappatagudda as conservation reserve under Section 36A of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 on December 19, 2015.
On November 4, 2016, the State government decided to withdraw the notification regarding declaring Kappatagudda as conservation reserve stating that no public consultation was held.
It was the environmentalists, supported by the seers of various Lingayat mutts in the region, who had fought for the tag for Kappatagudda. Now, they are fighting again to get it back. Along with Sri Siddhalinga Swami, seers from various prominent mutts have joined the campaign and had even led a delegation to meet the Chief Minister.
In a subsequent development, a public consultation chaired by Deputy Commissioner of Gadag Manoj Jain was held in Dambal village on January 16, in the presence of various seers and elected representatives, where majority of the participants condemned the government’s decision.
What has irked the environmentalists and people of the region is that despite the opposition in the public consultation, the State government has not yet taken a decision till date.
Social activists S.R. Hiremath, Ravi Krishna Reddy, Raghavendra Kushtagi and several others will be leading the three-day dharna.
