Karnataka Speaker Kagodu Thimappa today rejected the demand of the BJP members to allow adjournment motion to discuss the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats, but agreed to take up the matter for debate under a different rule tomorrow.
As the proceedings began, BJP members including Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar demanded that the Chair allow adjournment motion to discuss the report, which has faced opposition from various quarters including environmentalists and people living in and around the Western Ghats belt.
"We all plead to the Chair to allow adjournment motion to discuss the issue as it is a very important one concerning the lives of people living in the Western Ghats belt," Shettar said.
Raising the issue, former minister and BJP MLA Vishweswar Hegde Kageri accused the government of "inaction" to clear doubts in the minds of the people living in Western Ghats.
Kageri said people living in the vicinity were in the grip of fear that the implementation of the report would adversely affect their livelihood. He said the Kasturirangan committee had not conducted proper ground-level survey.
The committee had identified ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs), without conducting a proper ground survey, he said.
Countering Kageri's charges that the government has failed to take any action on Kasturirangan report, Higher Education and Tourism Minister R V Deshpande said it is wrong to say the government is inactive, but welcomed suggestions from the members.
"We all are very serious about the issue. There is no difference in this regard. We want the members to give suggestions, and the government is keen on implementing them," he said.
Recently, Karnataka Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai had said the government would adopt a more liberal approach than Kerala when it submits its comments to the Centre on the Kasturirangan report.
The government is expected to submit the report before this month end and request the Centre to keep habitations, plantations and agricultural areas in villages out of the purview of the eco-sensitive areas (ESAs), Rai had said.
Of Karnataka's total geographical area of 1,91,791 sq km, Western Ghats taluks measure up to 44,448 sq km, including 1,576 villages identified as ESAs.
