Exclude Karnataka from Kasturirangan committee report: Farmers to govt

SHIVAMOGGA: The Shivamogga Zilla Adike Belegarara Sangha demanded that the state government exclude Karnataka from the purview of the K Kasturirangan committee report. They urged the state government to mount pressure on the Centre to not implement the report.Convenor of the Sangha, B A Ramesh Hegde accused Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and MP B Y Raghavendra for forcing the report on Karnataka. 

“The BJP MPs and leaders promised the people of Malnad that they would stop the report from being implemented during the Assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the wake of the upcoming gram panchayat polls, they continue to promise people the same thing. Every time, an election is declared, the issue has been used for votes,” he said.

He said that the report was unscientific and the government needs to address man-animal conflict by preserving the available forest area. It was stated in the report that 1,573 villages of the state and 492 villages of the district need to be identified as eco-sensitive zones. Hegde said that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Centre to finalise the notification with regard to the report by December 31. 

He said that under the then Siddaramaiah-led state government, the cabinet had rejected the report and asked the Centre to drop it. However, the BJP-led state government filed an affidavit in the NGT which prompted the Centre to implement the report.