SHIVAMOGGA: Former Home Minister and Tirthahalli MLA Araga Jnanendra on Thursday said the BJP would support the state government in arriving at a decision on the Kasturirangan report and participate in the special legislature session convened to discuss the issue.
Speaking to reporters here, Jnanendra welcomed the government’s decision to hold the special session and said BJP MLAs would participate in the discussion. “A decision should finally be taken cutting across party lines,” he said. He accused Congress leaders of misleading people on the Kasturirangan report for political gains. He said there should be a non-partisan discussion that takes into account both the need to protect the ecology of the Western Ghats and the interests of people living in the region.
“Environmental protection cannot be achieved by keeping local people away. A solution should be found without causing inconvenience to them,” he said. Jnanendra also pointed out that both Gadgil and Kasturirangan panels were constituted during the Congress-led UPA government. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, was constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in March 2010. The Kasturirangan-led High-Level Working Group was subsequently constituted in 2012 to examine the Gadgil panel’s recommendations.
Questioning former Tirthahalli MLA Kimmane Rathnakar, Jnanendra asked why he had remained silent when the two reports came up during his tenure as MLA between 2008 and 2018. Rathnakar represented Tirthahalli from 2008 to 2018. Jnanendra also criticised Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa and asked him to refrain from making statements on the issue without studying the Kasturirangan report.