The Kasturirangan committee report on conservation of the Western Ghats will be the key issue in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Kerala, as the issue is gathering dust with strong agitations by the High Range Samrakshana Samithi (High Range Protection Council).
The report is set to decide the outcome of eight constituencies in the state. The stalemate over the issue became more complex with the statement made by Veerappa Moily, Union minister for Environment on Thursday.
Moily said issues raised by Kerala would not be sorted out fully before the elections. This raised serious apprehension in the high-range districts and there are strong political campaigns by the opposition parties, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) and various other organisations against the UPA and the state government.
So, the parliament election might be a referendum on the report in Kerala, at least in eight constituencies, creating serious troubles to the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
Moily refused to set a time limit for issuing fresh notification for the implementation of the report, but said that re-survey of 123 affected villages in Kerala will be possible.
Earlier, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said that Moily had assured him to sort out all the issues in two months time. Moily openly denied this and told that fixing a time frame is not practical as the National Green Tribunal is considering the case.
Union Environment secretary R Rajagopalan said that the government was not reviewing the regulatory activities based on the Kasturirangan Committee Report. The Union government, especially the ministry of Environment, has adopted a rather ‘passive’ mode over the sensitive and hottest issue in Kerala.
HRSS leaders and Catholic priests have came out criticising both the governments’ vehemently, as the livelihood of roughly 10 million people is in crisis. Allies in the UDF, especially Kerala Congress (Mani) also supported the agitations and its leaders are in the forefront of the movement against the Kasturirangan report.
The Kerala Congress, which has its strong roots in the high range districts of Kerala, strongly opposes the implementation of the report, also demand its withdrawal before the notification of the elections.
PC George, vice chairman of the party and chief whip of the government said the Oommen Chandy ministry would be in trouble after the elections, unless the report is withdrawn fully. Some Catholic priests openly appealed Laity to vote against the Congress candidates in the elections.
Five HRSS volunteers, including a priest have started an indefinite hunger strike at the Wynad district headquarters in Kalpetta against the implementation of the report. They demand an unconditional withdrawal of the report. In Kerala, 123 villages were notified as either ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) or ecologically fragile land (EFL) and this includes thickly populated villages and even parts of towns. This is because of the method of adopting satellite survey for identifying ESA and EFL areas.
The press conference of Veerappa Moily on Thursday was like a boomerang to the UDF. Chandy’s strategy is to prolong the issue till the elections, by assuring the people that there would not be a problem to those living in these villages.
But the people in the area are wary of leaving from their ancestral villages and with Moily’s words, their apprehensions intensified.
The medium and small farmers in these areas are united in resisting the report, irrespective of religion, caste and political affinity. This puts UDF leadership in troubled waters.
UDF leaders will have sleepless nights and brain storming sessions on how to tackle the issue as the Union government is rather adamant on implementation of the report.
In UDF, Congress is between Scylla and Charybdis as Kasturi Rangan report will definitely damage their prospects in at least eight constituencies which otherwise, they have a clear political advantage, thanks to minority voters. But now they are afraid of losing a major chunk of the minority votes, especially that of Christians over the Kasturirangan report.
