Karnataka Assembly unites on ESA concerns but splits on Kasturirangan report origins
Karnataka Assembly members agreed on fighting the ESA draft notification jointly, but clashed over whether the UPA or NDA government was responsible for it.
A debate in the Karnataka Assembly on the draft notification declaring Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats saw members across party lines agree on the need for a united effort to protect local livelihoods, even as the House descended into a blame game over who was responsible for the Kasturirangan report.
Ruling Congress members, including Minister Eshwar B. Khandre and legislators A.S. Ponnanna and Beluru Gopalakrishna, argued that the draft notification had been issued by the NDA government at the Centre. Mr. Khandre, who previously held the Forest portfolio, asked the Centre to announce a special package for the affected areas. Mr. Ponnanna said the Centre had not revised the draft despite the State filing objections six times.
BJP member B.Y. Vijayendra pushed back, contending that the Madhav Gadgil committee was constituted by the erstwhile UPA government under then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said the committee was set up by then Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh without any order from the Supreme Court or the National Green Tribunal, and that it identified large tracts of land as ESA, after which the Kasturirangan committee was formed. He held the UPA government responsible for the current draft notification and warned that blaming the Centre alone would not secure justice for Karnataka.
Mr. Vijayendra also accused Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa of politicising the issue publicly and of taking to the streets to provoke people against the Centre.
Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar intervened to calm the House, saying the Minister's action was not a protest against the Centre but a message to affected people that the government stood with them. He said he had personally visited the affected districts and held public consultations, and that the special session had been convened to take the Opposition into confidence.
Mr. Vijayendra also rejected allegations by Mr. Gopalakrishna that Shivamogga MP B.Y. Raghavendra had missed all 11 meetings on the Kasturirangan report, asking the Congress member to produce evidence or withdraw the charge.