Protest against Kasturirangan report held in Kalasa

The residents in Malnad have been leading an anxious life with Project Tiger, national park, biological park and such other initiatives.

Now, Kasturirangan report is hanging like a Sword of Damocles on their heads. It is the pseudo-environmentalists who are responsible for such projects, said activist Kalkuli Vittala Hegde.

He was speaking at a protest meeting organised to oppose the Kasturirangan recommendations on conservation of water in Kalasa on Sunday. “Kasturirangan was not an environmental scientist, but a space scientist. He prepared the report based on the satellite images rather than meeting people,” he said.

He said if the recommendations are implemented then the farmers can not not use chemical fertilisers and insecticides. The sand mining is banned in the ecologically-sensitive areas. The draft on the recommendations were issued after holding meeting of MPs coming under Western Ghats jurisdiction on August 11, 2016. However, the MPs from Karnataka, representing Western Ghats jurisdiction, including Shobha Karandlaje, B S Yeddyurappa and Prathap Simha had remained absent to the meeting. The Kerala MPs who were present in the meeting were able to convince the Centre to keep Kerala out of the purview of the recommendations of Kasturirangan report.