PTI
Bengaluru
The Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution rejecting the K Kasturirangan report on conservation of the Western Ghats in its present form.
The resolution, passed at the end of a special discussion on the report, urged the Centre to rectify the “deficiencies” in it.
Reading out the resolution in the House, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the Western Ghats in Karnataka constituted an extremely important region in terms of the state’s natural resources, biodiversity and ecological balance.
The resolution said forest areas, agricultural lands, plantations and houses in the villages had been brought under the proposed environmentally sensitive area (ESA), while the boundaries had been determined using satellite data without a joint physical survey.
The resolution said the inclusion of agricultural land, plantations and houses under the ESA could create problems relating to house construction.
, division of family property and inheritance. It said the draft notification did not have precise boundaries based on survey numbers as it was prepared using satellite data.
“There are pending issues concerning Bagair Hukum forest rights, deemed forests, land regularisation, appeals and judicial cases,” the resolution said.
It said the Kasturirangan report had not proposed special economic assistance or alternative livelihood support for people affected by ESA restrictions.
The resolution said declaring an entire village as an ecologically sensitive area merely because one-fifth of it falls within forest limits was not a scientific procedure and had caused considerable discontent among the local population.
The Assembly urged the Centre to restrict the ESA to the forest areas specified in the notification and other forest areas, while excluding agricultural and horticultural lands, plantations, human settlements and areas used for public activities, except those already approved or sanctioned.
It urged the Centre to take into consideration issues relating to Bagair Hukum forest rights, deemed forests, land regularisation, appeals and judicial cases.
The state sought the constitution of an expert committee to physically measure and separately identify forest boundaries, human settlements, ecologically sensitive areas and agricultural areas on a survey-number basis.
It urged the Centre to formulate detailed guidelines for providing alternative livelihoods and economic assistance to farmers and workers affected by the ESA and constitute a high-level committee to rectify the deficiencies in the Kasturirangan report and suggest necessary modifications.
