BENGALURU: My village in Kodagu falls under the eco-sensitive zone of the Western Ghats, there is no problem in undertaking daily economic and agricultural works, said Roy Boppanna, a farmer from Kodagu in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
"In fact, the regions which fall under the ESZs have no mining, no conversion of land, no road widening and no political interference. So there are no landslides and is green," he said.
He was one of the teams of farmers, locals and experts who are opposing the ban of the state government on the ESZ report tabled by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, seeking public opinion. The activists and farmers are also demanding the government come out with a river catchment protection policy. Speaking to the media, Boppanna said, "Politicians have united and have opposed the ESZ report. They are misguiding the masses by stating that villagers and locals are opposing the report, but that is not the case."
CP Muttanna, also from Kodagu added that the government should tell exactly which part of the ESZ report they oppose, instead of opposing the entire 197 pages report. The state has told the government that it will not look into it for a year. One can clearly understand what it means.
Mohanlal a farmer from Shivamogga said, the government is misguiding that all the villages in the region fall under ESZ and development will come to a grinding halt. In fact, of the 1,700 odd villages, over 400 would fall under the ESZ. In fact, many villagers are demanding their village be included in the ESZ list so that they will be saved from destruction.
The members listed the projects which the government wants to undertake if the ESZs are not declared. The list includes- Hubballi- Ankola railway line, Hubballi- Goa railway track via Castle Rock, railway track to Honnavar, Sharavathi pump storage, Jog development project, seven highway projects through Kodagu, two railway lines through Kodagu, widening of Charmadi Ghat, widening of NH169 passing through Shivamogga, Teerthahalli, Koppa, Karkala and Mangaluru effecting the Lion Tailed Macqau reserve and Kudremukh Wildlife Sanctuary, widening of Shishila- Bhyrapur road, Hassan road widening and many others.
Activists pointed out that the government is undertaking widening of Bengaluru- Mangaluru road, in strips of 25kms, just to avoid environmental impact clearance. “There is a need for declaring ESZ for protection of Western Ghats. We demand the implementation of a catchment area preservation policy for protecting the rivers including the Cauvery and Netravati rivers,” said the villagers.