Govt has failed to protect interest of Malnad people: BSY

Bengaluru, Dec 20: BJP leader and former chief minister B?S Yeddyurappa has hit out at the Congress government for “failing to protect the interest of the people of Malnad” while replying to the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats in the Supreme Court.

In a press statement on?Saturday, Yeddyurappa, who is also an MP, said the Kasturirangan report had identified 20,668 sqkm as ecologically sensitive, which is spread over 1,573 villages in 10 districts.

The Kasturirangan Committee, set up during the UPA government, had not visited villages to understand the ground realities. It just went by the satellite imageries to prepare the report. All green areas were declared sensitive areas. Even rubber, areca and coffee estates, according to the satellite imageries, were considered as sensitive areas.

The report has done immense injustice to the people in the region, he said.

Yeddyurappa said the report had been challenged by many in the Supreme Court. The court had directed six states to submit the cultural and natural landscape reports.

Accordingly, Kerala submitted its report within four months in 2013. While accepting the report, the court had directed other states to follow in the footsteps of Kerala in preparing the reports. However, Karnataka did not the follow the direction and failed to project a factual picture, he said.

The State Cabinet had constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to prepare a report. But it lacked information on the cultural and natural landscapes. Though public opinion was gathered at the taluk level, it did not conduct the study in a scientific way.

This eventually led the court to declare 20,668 sqkm as ecologically sensitive area. Even now, the government has not appointed an advocate to put forth the argument of Karnataka in the court, he said and urged the government to pay attention to the issue.