The district unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangha has questioned the rationale behind the visit of a ministerial team, under Minister for Forests B. Ramananth Rai, to Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts on January 21 to discuss the problems arising from the K. Kasturirangan panel’s report on conservation of the Western Ghats.
In a press release issued here, Satyanarayana Udupa, general secretary of the district unit of the sangha, said that the sangha was of the opinion that until the anomalies in the report had been corrected, it should not be implemented.
Before implementing the report, it was essential that the government conduct a proper survey and identify the natural and cultural landscapes in the Western Ghats and its surroundings. It was also necessary to collect information of the population of the villages and eco-sensitive villages needed to be identified.
So far a district-level committee, under the Deputy Commissioner, had not studied the issue and it had not even attempted to inform the people in the villages about the pros and cons of the report.
