'Don't panic, Kudremukh tiger project dropped'

Udupi-Chikkamagalur Member of Parliament Shobha Karandlaje has said that the proposed tiger reserve project was out of the purview of both Central and State governments, and hence the people in Kudremukh wildlife division area need not panic.

Speaking to media persons here on Sunday, the MP lamented that even after the proposal for the project was rejected, the people of the region where the proposed project was envisioned, were still panicked. She called upon the propagandists to stop spreading rumors and added that the Central government would initiate the project, only if the State government was willing to do so.

The Central government’s financial assistance is possible if State government is favourable to the proposed project. However, the State government has dropped the proposal, she asserted.

Alleging that the State government was into delaying the impending gram panchayat polls, the MP accused the Congress-led government of deliberating over postponing the forthcoming gram panchayat polls on the lines of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike polls. The State government’s fresh notification for limiting the reserved seats for women to not more than 50 per cent is the indication of government’s intention. The bureaucrats had already made the list of women candidates under reservation criteria, which exceeded 50 per cent.

New list

Now, a new list will be prepared as per the government’s notification. The process would take extra time. The polls would not be held in the month of June as expected, she alleged. Shobha urged the government to hold gram panchayat polls on time.

Coming down heavily on the State government for delaying the transfer of land to Central government for setting up Kendriya Vidyalayas in Udupi and Belagavi, the MP said that the project was delayed due to government’s lackadaisical attitude.

The identification of 10 acres of land (in Udupi) and file clearance have not been taken up by the government. Shobha said she had spoken to Deputy Commissioner and had asked him to take suo-motu decision and later send the proposal for ratification to the government over the land.

She ridiculed that the government was not even able to prepare bye-laws to the gram panchayat. This has resulted in large number of applications, seeking permission for the constructions, pending for clearance.

Pending applications

As many as 14,000 applications in the district and nearly two lakh applications in State are pending for licence approval.

Karandlaje said she would boycott Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s programme in Mangaluru, where he is scheduled to lay foundation stone for the proposed advance science research centre of Mangalore University in Belapu. She said she was ignored in the invite. She added that the proposed project was the dream plan of former minister late Dr V S Acharya.

She anticipated that Supreme Court would accept the report sent by the State government with regard to Kasturi Rangan report, as the villagers in the proposed areas are anxiously waiting for relaxations in the demarcation of ESAs (Eco-sensitive areas), she added.