Bhatkal: Karnataka Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker and Bhatkal MLA Mankal Vaidya has urged the government to protect the interests of people in Uttara Kannada district while considering the recommendations of the Kasturirangan report, saying the district’s people have already made major sacrifices for various development projects. During a heated discussion in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on September 22, Vaidya highlighted the difficulties faced by people in Uttara Kannada and said that if the alleged injustice to the district continued, people may have to move to neighbouring Goa.
Vaidya questioned the government over the apparent contradiction of granting land rights to thousands of families living in forest areas while simultaneously seeking to impose further restrictions on the same areas under the Kasturirangan report. He asked what would happen to these families if such restrictions were imposed.
He said nearly 82 per cent of Uttara Kannada district is forest area, while only around 12 per cent of the land comes under the Revenue Department. He said the Centre and the state government were taking various measures, including GPS surveys, to provide land rights to around 85,000 families living on forest land. In such circumstances, he questioned how the Kasturirangan recommendations could be implemented in their present form.
Vaidya said he was not opposed to the protection of forests and the environment, but cautioned that implementing the report in its present form could have a serious impact on the lives, agriculture, livelihoods and development activities of local people. He said the people of Uttara Kannada had already made significant sacrifices for the development of the country.
The MLA pointed out that the district has a coastline of around 144 km, where coastal regulations restrict large-scale development activities near the sea. There are also buffer and protective zones along rivers, while restrictions on land use have been imposed in areas through which the Konkan Railway and national highways pass.
Vaidya said Uttara Kannada had also provided large tracts of land for major national projects. Around 21,000 acres were acquired for the Sea Bird naval base, about 1,000 acres for the Kaiga Nuclear Power Station and land for five hydroelectric projects. He said the people of the district had also made sacrifices for the Konkan Railway and national highways. While the projects established in the district benefit the entire country, he said, local people have continued to bear the loss of land and development opportunities.
He said more than 85,000 families could be affected or face displacement in areas including Bhatkal, Honnavar and Sirsi if the Kasturirangan recommendations were implemented in their present form.
Vaidya also questioned where the people of the district would go if 626 villages were brought within a 10-km buffer zone. He said local communities had played an important role in protecting the Western Ghats and that farmers and rural communities living in the region for centuries had coexisted with the forests.
During the discussion, BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar suggested that the chief ministers of all six states affected by the Western Ghats-related recommendations should hold a meeting and adopt a common position on the issue. He said migration from the Western Ghats and Malnad regions had left several houses occupied only by elderly people and stressed the need to protect the livelihoods of local communities.
Meanwhile, in a latest development on September 23, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the Kasturirangan report in its present form and calling for its review and a ground survey of areas in the Western Ghats.