PANAJI
Goa may have to brace for a population spillover from across the border if Karnataka’s concerns over the Kasturirangan recommendations translate into widespread displacement and loss of livelihoods in the Western Ghats. The possibility surfaced in the Karnataka Assembly, where Deputy Speaker and Bhatkal MLA Mankal Vaidya warned that people from Uttara Kannada could eventually be forced to look towards Goa if their interests were not protected. “Implementation of the Kasturirangan recommendations in their present form could affect Bhatkal, Sirsi and Honnavar, with more than 85,000 families facing displacement. We will have to move either to the 13 islands or to Goa,” he said during the special Assembly session held on Tuesday to discuss the pros and cons of the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats. More than half of Uttara Kannada’s 14 lakh population lives in the Western Ghats, Vaidya said, pointing out that residents had already surrendered vast tracts of land for major development projects, including the Konkan Railway, Seabird naval base, Kaiga Nuclear Power Station, five hydel projects and national highways. Nearly 21,000 acres, he said, were acquired for the Seabird project alone. The remarks came against the backdrop of Karnataka’s plans to develop tourism across 13 coastal islands, a proposal that emerged from a Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru last week. Vaidya urged the State government to challenge the recommendations before the National Green Tribunal. “Because of multiple projects and now the Kasturirangan report, no one is living happily in the district,” he said.
Chief Minister D K Shivakumar assured the Assembly that Karnataka would not accept the Centre’s latest draft as the proposed restrictions could affect farm-based livelihoods and constrain future development. The Assembly unanimously passed a resolution seeking a review of the report and necessary modifications.
It also decided to conduct a fresh physical survey of villages that could be affected by implementation of the recommendations, through a high-level committee headed by a retired judge. The proposal covers 56,000 sq km across six States, including 20,668 sq km in Karnataka, spread across 33 talukas and 1,449 villages in 10 districts.
