Karnataka govt to stick to its decision to completely reject Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday decided to stick to its decision to completely reject the Dr K Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats.

“Regarding the central government’s draft notification of the Western Ghats eco-sensitive area (ESA), based on the report by Dr K Kasturirangan-led high-level working group, the Cabinet held a detailed discussion. Already a decision has been taken by Karnataka to completely reject Dr Kasturirangan report, we have decided to continue with that decision,” Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters.

At a consultation organised by the Forest Department recently, public representatives from across party lines from the region had opposed the sixth draft notification of the Western Ghats eco-sensitive area (ESA).

The Union Environment Ministry has issued six draft notifications since March 2014 to declare over 56,825.7 square kilometres of the Western Ghats across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as eco-sensitive. However, the final notification is still pending due to objections from the states.

Overall, the notification proposes to declare 449 square kilometres in Gujarat, 17,340 square kilometres in Maharashtra, 1,461 square kilometres in Goa, 20,668 square kilometres in Karnataka, 6,914 square kilometres in Tamil Nadu and 9,993.7 square kilometres in Kerala as ecologically sensitive.