A series of programmes to create awareness and gather
support for the implementation of the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats
Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report will begin in the district with a
public discussion at Kudremukh National Park near Aladangady in
Belthangady taluk on April 1.
Suma
Nagesh from Chikmagalur-based Save Democracy Forum told presspersons
here on Monday that the programme would dispel myths about the report
among forest-dwellers, while highlighting the “negative” aspects of the
K. Kasturirangan Commission report that was commissioned to replace the
Gadgil panel report.
“The Gadgil panel report sought
to comprehensively conserve the Western Ghats, which is a bio-diversity
hotspot. The government conveniently used the Kasturirangan report to
reject the Gadgil report. We have petitioned the President to reconsider
the Gadgil committee report, while also creating awareness among the
tribal people and forest-dwellers about the report,” said Mr. Nagesh,
referring to a letter written to Pranab Mukherjee on March 15.
He
blamed vested interests, industrial lobbies, and political
representatives for creating fear among farmers about displacement if
the reports were implemented.
“The only fear is that
mining and industries will shut down. The Gadgil panel report clearly
states that forest-dwellers were needed in conservation projects and it
does not advocate for their displacement,” he said.
The
meet will also discuss the government’s “surreptitious attempts” at
displacing tribal people from KNP, said Harish Malekudiya, a resident of
Aladangady.
“The government refuses to give us basic
amenities, while attempting to lure us with money to leave our homes.
We don’t want to shift elsewhere, but the government is making it
difficult to stay on,” he said.
Mr. Gadgil himself will address the Kudremukh forest-dwellers — some of whom are fighting against displacement — on April 1.
Apart
from him, activist S.R. Hiremath and writer Na. D’Souza, who had
criticised the government on their “inactivity” over conserving the
ghats, are expected to participate. The group will travel around the six
States through which the Western Ghats traverses, and distribute
materials and books in local languages elaborating on the need to
implement the WGEEP report.
An integral part of the
organisation’s demand is the scrapping of the Yettinahole project, which
they called a hasty decision that endangers the ghats.
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