The State government has formally told the Centre that the key recommendations of the Kasturirangan committee report on conservation of Western Ghats need to be modified to be accepted by the State.
In a letter written on April 24 to Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the State government has said that the selection of eco-sensitive area (ESA) according to the Kasturirangan report is “highly subjective and arbitrary”.
The report had suggested that any village limit with more than 20 per cent forest or natural landscape should be declared as ESA. Compared to the 1,438 villages recommended as ESA in the Kasturirangan report for Karnataka, the State government has said that not more than 153 villages, which incidentally lie in already protected wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, can be termed as sensitive areas.
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“Any further inclusion of villages can be thought of, after wider awareness creation with special emphasis regarding prohibitions/regulations and benefits that may accrue to the ESA villages… SLEC (State-Level Expert committee of forest officials) has underlined that the very concept of ESA notification is not going (down) well with most people,” said the letter written by M. Madan Gopal, State Additional Chief Secretary, Forest, Ecology and Environment Department.
A copy of the letter is with The Hindu .
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The letter points out that four State and national forest and environment acts are currently applied in forest areas. “The wide-spread resentment, apprehension and strong public opinion against the report, is to be understood in this background… bringing in further restrictions, in the absence of a larger public appreciation and support, will defeat the very purpose of conserving ecology environment of Western Ghats,” the letter stated.