Bengaluru : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday objected on declaring Western Ghats as an ecologically sensitive zone because it would adversely affect the livelihood of the people residing there and adjourning areas.
Mr Bommai strongly presented the state’s stand in the virtual meeting on implementation of the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats, chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Labour Bhupinder Yadav.
“Declaring Western Ghats as an ecologically sensitive zone would adversely affect the livelihood of the people in the region. So the Karnataka government and the people living in the region are opposed to implementation of the Kasturirangan report,” Mr Bommai said.
He brought everyone’s attention on the fact that the state cabinet had decided to oppose the Kasturirangan report.
The decision had been taken after exhaustive discussions with people of the Western Ghats region and officials.
Karnataka has the distinction of being one of the states with extensive forest cover and the state government has taken extreme care to protect the biodiversity of Western Ghats, Mr Bommai said, adding that people of the region have adopted agriculture and horticultural activities in an eco-friendly manner.
“Priority has been accorded for environment protection under the Forest Protection Act. In this background bringing one more law that would affect the livelihood of the local people is not appropriate,” he said.
The Kasturirangan report has been prepared based on the satellite images, but the ground reality is different, Mr Bommai claimed.
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