If people in the coastal belt do not raise their voice against the continued abuse of the Western Ghats, more natural disasters will happen, Dinesh Holla, convener, Sahyadri Sanchaya, said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at a conference on ‘Swacch Bharat Shreshth Bharat’ organised by Ramakrishna Mission in Ramakrishna Mutt as the concluding programme of the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago address, Mr. Holla questioned the silence of a large section of people, especially in Dakshina Kannada, over the ongoing damage to the Western Ghats.
Mining activities, timber mafia, construction of resorts and homestays, hydroelectric projects, and Yettinahole project, have damaged the ghats to a great extent. If they are not controlled, the coastal belt will remain drought-hit permanently as the Netravati will go dry, he said.
Increased human interventions and unscientific projects on the ghats have resulted in the landslips in Kodagu last year and this year, and the same was extended to Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada this year, he said. Incidentally, no comprehensive study has been taken up on the same, he said.
Mr. Holla claimed that the annual fire in the Western Ghats was man-made and not natural.
He urged students to plant at least one sapling on their birthdays as their contribution to nurture the nature.
