Activists question Karnataka government’s ambivalent stance on environment 

Will the government’s directive to officials to clear encroached forest land in the Western Ghats limit itself to removing resorts and homestays or will it be part of a larger policy initiative to put a halt to infrastructure projects that have a negative bearing on ecology?

Will the government’s directive to officials to clear encroached forest land in the Western Ghats limit itself to removing resorts and homestays or will it be part of a larger policy initiative to put a halt to infrastructure projects that have a negative bearing on ecology?

This is the question being raised by environmentalists and activists after Karnataka’s Minister of Forests, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre directed the officials to clear encroached forest land, and resorts and homestays that have mushroomed after 2015 from ecosensitive areas in the Western Ghats.

The response followed a slew of landslides in the State as at Shirur in Ankola, where 11 persons died, apart from the tragedy in Wayanad in Kerala which has claimed nearly 300 lives so far.

While welcoming Mr. Khandre’s directives, the activists wished to know if the government would also roll back some of the mega projects being pushed by it in the Western Ghats that are as destructive in scope.

Akhilesh Chipli, an environmentalist from Sagar in Shivamogga district and president of the Jan Sangram Parishat, said the government was working at cross purposes. He pointed out that the government was pushing for the Sharavati Pumped Storage Project, the DPR for which was cleared by the Central Electricity Authority on Friday.

‘’But the project requires 153 hectares (378 acres) of land and it will come up in the core area of Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary. The lion-tailed macaque is a highly endangered species and endemic to the Western Ghats. The area also has wetlands and is a biodiversity hotspot harbouring the Great Indian Hornbill and the project would be ruinous to the ecosystem,” he added.

Questions are also being raised about the need for railway line projects through eco-sensitive zones such as the Mysuru-Kushalnagar, Hubballi-Ankola, and Talaguppa-Honnavar or new roads and broadening of existing ones in hilly areas. Though the railway projects will not be directly implemented by the State government, activists say it should spell out its opposition in unequivocal terms.