Karnataka CM to tour Malnad, coastal districts over Kasturirangan report

Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar will travel through the coastal and Malnad regions this weekend to hold a series of meetings on the K. Kasturirangan Committee report, which led to a draft notification proposing to declare parts of the Western Ghats in the State as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA).

The seventh draft notification was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 28. It covers 20,668 sq. km across 10 districts and 1,576 villages. Residents of the Malnad and coastal belts have since held several protests, fearing that the notification, if brought into force, would severely affect their livelihoods.

Under the tour plan, the Chief Minister will chair a Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru on Friday, September 18, and then hold a meeting at Hebri in Udupi district. The next day, Saturday, September 19, he will hold a meeting at Tirthahalli in Shivamogga district, followed by another in the afternoon at Balehonnur in N.R. Pura taluk of Chikkamagaluru district.

Shivamogga has already seen protests in various taluks against the proposal. On September 15, Minister for School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa, who is the Minister-in-charge of Shivamogga district, said the Chief Minister would hold public meetings to gather people's opinion and appealed to residents to attend in large numbers.

The Minister said the State government would stand by the people of the region and would not allow the implementation of the Kasturirangan report. He said the draft notification would affect 484 villages in Shivamogga district and restrict the lives of rural people. The area proposed for notification includes human habitation and cultivated land, and curbs on agricultural activity and housing would hinder their growth, he added.

The Chief Minister has also announced that a special session of the legislature will be held on the issue.