Mangaluru: Samiti opposes implementing Kasturirangan report in toto

Jadkal Mudur Grama Hitarakshana Samiti of Byndoor taluk staged a dharna in front of the Udupi Deputy Commissioner’s office on Tuesday urging the government to keep human habitations out of the purview of K. Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats while implementing the recommendations of a high-level working group led by the senior scientist who headed the ISRO.

Jadkal Mudur Grama Hitarakshana Samiti of Byndoor taluk staged a dharna in front of the Udupi Deputy Commissioner’s office on Tuesday urging the government to keep human habitations out of the purview of K. Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats while implementing the recommendations of a high-level working group led by the senior scientist who headed the ISRO.

The samiti, which termed the report as unscientific, said people living in 37 villages of Udupi district will be affected if the recommendations are implemented in toto as the villages fell under the ecologically sensitive area. People of the villages are now apprehensive about their future if the recommendations are not reconsidered.

Speaking on the occasion, activist Kalkuli Vitala Hegde said the report has not mentioned anything regarding providing compensation to persons who will be displaced. By bringing the places of dwelling under the sensitive area, people will be made to desert the villages on their own. The report has again come to the limelight after the Union government reissued the draft notification, for the sixth time, in this August classifying parts of the Western Ghats in six States, including Karnataka, as ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs), he said.

Byndoor MLA Gururaj Ghantihole and MLC Manjunath Bhandary were present on the occasion.