Drop habitation from the purview of ESA, says Bopaiah

MLA K G Bopaiah said that habitation area should be dropped from the purview of the ecologically sensitive area (ESA) while implementing the recommendations of the Kasturirangan panel on the conservation of the Western Ghats.

There is time till December 2 to file objections to the draft notification issued by the Ministry of Forest and Environment on the implementation of Kasturirangan recommendations, he added.

Speaking at a meeting organised to discuss on Kasturirangan report on Monday, he said the first draft notification on the recommendations was issued in 2014. The fourth draft notification was issued in the month of October.

Following a stiff opposition from the people living in the Western Ghats area, the Green bench had ordered to collect public opinion in the matter. The people from Kodagu should file objections to the report to ensure that the recommendations are not implemented, he added.

He said that the recommendations are harmful to the farmers as well. If more number of objections are submitted, it will benefit the people of Kodagu district, he said.

He appealed to the gram panchayats, taluk panchayats and zilla panchayats to file objections based on the resolution passed against the implementation of recommendations of Kasturirangan report.

Varadi Anushtana Virodhi Samithi office bearer Nanda Subbaiah said, “The Kerala government had made an on-the-spot verification of the villages falling within the ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) and kept agricultural land, plantations, and habitations out of the purview of the ESA.”

MLA M P Appachu Ranjan, MLC Sunil Subramani and others were present in the meeting.