Organisation urges MoEFCC to implement Kasturirangan Committee recommendations

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File photo of Benedict C. Fernandes, secretary, Society for Forest, Environment, and Climate Change, Mangaluru (second from left). | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Mangaluru-based Society for Forest Environment and Climate Change (SFECC) has asked the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to reject objections raised by the State government and implement the recommendations of the Kasturirangan Committee for the preservation of ecology, environmental integrity, and holistic development of the Western Ghats, as notified in March 2014.

Talking to presspersons in Mangaluru on Saturday, SFECC secretary Benadict Fernandes said the MoEFCC first issued a notification in March 2014 designating 56,825 sq. km. spread over Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). It notified a bar on mining, Red category industries, and other restrictions.

Following objections by the States, the MoEFCC has renotified the proposal for the seventh time. The State government, on a false pretext, was continuing to oppose the implementation of the Kasturirangan recommendations, he said. The State government is needlessly creating fear among people in the ESA (20,688 sq. km. in Karnataka) that this will affect their lifestyle. The society has asked the MoEFCC to override objections and go ahead with its statutory power to implement the recommendations necessary to protect the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.

Mr. Fernandes said the first letter was written by the Society on September 28, followed by another letter on Thursday.

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