Elected representatives of Shivamogga district have urged the State government to reject the recommendations of the Kasturirangan commission on the conservation of Western Ghats.
Members of the Cabinet subcommittee, comprising Minister for Forest Ramanath Rai, Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra, formed by the State government to look into the recommendations made by the panel, held consultations with the elected representatives and the public here on Tuesday in this regard.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rai said the government had decided to reduce the area under the ecologically sensitive zone (ESZ) proposed by the panel by 37 per cent. The number of villages to be affected would also come down to 800 from the earlier estimate of 1,537 villages, he said.
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Mr. Rai allayed the fear among people in villages identified for conservation that the implementation of the report would result in their eviction.
There would be no restriction on agricultural activities and public utility works like construction of roads, school buildings or hospitals in those places. The State government would convey its stand on the report to the Union government after taking public opinion on it, he said.
Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, in his address, said the people of Malnad region had to face displacement owing to construction of dams across Tunga, Sharavati and Varahi rivers. It was true that the families displaced for the sake of development projects were not rehabilitated properly.
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The Malnad region receives heavy rainfall and the population there was scattered. Laws related to conservation of forest and wildlife had imposed several restrictions on upgrading civic amenities in the region. Implementation of the recommendations of Kasturirangan panel would further make the life miserable for people. They would certainly oppose the report in its entirety, he said.
Member of the district Planning Committee T.N. Srinivas said, the Revenue and Forest officials were evicting bagair hukum farmers in the district, who had submitted applications under the Forest Rights Act and form 50 and 53 before the taluk-level Land Grant Committees seeking land ownership rights.
The eviction operation taken up in the name of encroachment clearance was inhuman and illegal. Implementation of the recommendations of Kasturirangan panel would result in further eviction in future, he said.
Members of the Shivamogga Zilla Panchayat also urged the State government to reject the recommendations of the Kasturirangan panel. Kalagodu Ratnakar, president of the zilla panchayat, submitted a memorandum to Mr. Rai in this regard.
Writer Shashi Sampalli, social activist Kallur Megharaj, members of several gram panchayats, who were present, also registered their opposition to the recommendations.
Ayanur Manjunath, Member of Rajya Sabha; K.B. Prasanna Kumar, Shivamogga MLA; Sharada Poorya Naik, Shivamogga Rural MLA; B.Y. Raghavendra, Shikaripur MLA; and M.B. Bhanuprakash, MLC, were present.
‘Forest and wildlife laws have limited the scope for upgrading amenities in Malnad’
Eviction drive in the name of encroachment clearance is inhuman and illegal: Srinivas