BENGALURU: Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said on Thursday that efforts would be made to include Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and other districts in a major study on landslide-prone areas. The study is being conducted by the Centre in collaboration with the British government.
He made the comments in response to suggestions of an expert committee, which the state government had formed to identify reasons and possible remedies for frequent landslides in the Western Ghats and coastal districts. The committee, led by Ananth Hegde Ashisara, chairman of the Karnataka Biodiversity Board, submitted its report to Yeddyurappa on Thursday. The report has identified 23 taluks of Karnataka as landslide-prone areas.
The panel said that the purpose of the study, titled ‘Landslip’, was also to recommend an early-warning mechanism. It has suggested the introduction of an integrated land-use plan in vulnerable districts to prevent indiscriminate digging.
“All decisions pertaining to land conversion and management of land and water in these areas should be based on this plan,” the report states.
The committee has urged the government to stop illegal stone quarries and crushers in the Western Ghats and coastal districts and curb the use of machinery for chopping trees and digging land, and cutting of slopes for development works.
It has also suggested disaster monitoring centres at the district, taluk and hobli levels.