Kodagu mayhem turns spotlight back on Kasturirangan report

BENGALURU: If you think the destruction and loss of lives caused by floods and landslides in Kodagu may have finally woken up the government and politicians, think again.
With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in mind, both the JD(S)-Congress government and the opposition BJP is in no mood to accept the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats. The findings of the report would go a long way in preventing Kodagu-like disasters in the future.
Both the Centre and the state is unlikely to pursue implementation of the report in toto as they fear it would hurt sentiments of its vote bank in the Malnad and coastal districts.The reports suggests a ban on infrastructure development and cutting of trees.
The Centre accepted the report in 2013 and had sought objections from seven states including Karnataka, but the previous Congress government rejected the report outright thrice.
Defending the move, forest, environment and ecology minister R Shankar said five other states had also rejected the report. “The implementation of the report was considered unnecessary, since we already have laws that bar any sort of major development activities in forest areas,” he said. “Already we are facing the wrath of the people for putting restrictions on cutting even a single tree in their own land. Now, if we implement this, there will be outrage.”
Ananth Hegde Ashisara, who headed the Western Ghats Task Force during the BJP regime said: “Successive governments in the state have been trying to evade the Kasturirangan report. I am not saying the report is perfect. But the government should consider a scientific and impartial debate on the recommendations. Simple things like avoiding huge infrastructure projects and curbing the increased agro-based activities on hill tops can be regulated.”
BJP state general secretary and Chikkamagalur MLA C T Ravi, whose constituency is located in the Western Ghats, said the implementation of the report would make life miserable for the people. “There needs to be some balance to save nature ensure people live as well,” he said.
However, Kodagu MLC, Veena Achaiah, whose coffee estate was wiped out by recent landslides, said its time parties stop indulging in politics over the report. “If we have made mistakes and taken nature for granted, then we must retract and accept what scientists say,” she said. “It is the only way that we can save Kodagu from such natural disasters.”
*The Dr K Kasturirangang report on Western Ghats was submitted in October 2013
* Recommends 60,000 sq km spread across six states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat — be declared eco-sensitive zones (ESZ)
* The report wanted 20,666 sq km declared ESZ in Karnataka
* MLAs opposed report saying it would impact livelihoods in 33 taluks and 1,576 villages
* A cabinet sub-committee during Siddaramaiah regime also recommended that the government not accept the report ‘in toto’