BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition R Ashoka on Monday urged the State Government to adopt the Kerala model and conduct a physical survey of areas covered under the Kasturirangan report. He also urged the State Government to constitute a legal team specialising in environment and forest matters and fight the matter legally.
Speaking on Day one of the three-day special session of the legislature convened to discuss the drought situation in the state and the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) in Vidhana Soudha on Monday, Ashoka pointed out that Karnataka has 1,576 villages covering 20,668 sq km under the ESA mentioned in the report, the largest among the states. In Maharashtra, it is 17,000 sq km, Kerala 9,000 sq km, Tamil Nadu 6,000 sq km, and Goa 1,400 sq km.
“The Kasturirangan committee used satellite imagery while conducting the survey, and because of this, coffee plantations, fields, areca farms, and other green patches are shown as forest. This has created problems for lakhs of farmers in 10 districts in Karnataka. This is a technical issue,” Ashoka said.
Further, Ashoka said that if the report is implemented, the State Government cannot even construct roads, repair bridges, lay drinking water pipes or provide electricity connections. “This is a nightmare for people and farmers from this region. If the forest department creates a buffer zone, the difficulties will increase further. The Kasturirangan report says every project must obtain permission from various departments. This will be disastrous for people in that region,” Ashoka added.
Ashoka further said that the Kerala government conducted a ground-level survey by visiting every village and identified every farm, field, house and other structures and issued a notification. “The report was submitted to the NGT as well as the Centre. NGT accepted it, and the ESA was reduced. If the Karnataka government does the same, plantations and houses of people of our state will be saved,” he said.
Further, demanding that the special session be held for a week instead of three days, Ashoka said that even before the Congress government opposed the Kasturirangan report, BJP governments of BS Yeddiyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai had opposed it.
“Many of you are blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Centre has issued a notification to implement the Kasturirangan report as per the NGT order. There is no need to politicise it,” Ashoka said.
The BJP leader told Chief Minister DK Shivakumar that the party is ready to take part in the state delegation to the Centre in this regard.
