Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (RJP)
Karkala, Dec 17: A massive protest rally was held in Hebri on Wednesday, December 17 protesting the implementation of the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats. All the shops in the town were completely closed with no vehicles moving through the town either towards Udupi or Agumbe.
The number of people congregated for the rally exceeded 3000 by some estimates.
The bandh called by the Kasturirangan Virodhi Horata Samiti started at 6 in the morning will continue till 6 pm.
Kundapur lawyer P Balakrishna Shetty addressing the people said, "We have been living in this land for thousands of years. We are dependent on the land, its produce and water for our existence. As much as 35 percent of the land here already falls under reserve forest area. Now they want to snatch the balance 65 percent land from us.
"If Kasturirangan report is implemented, we will become destitutes in our own land. The district administration was told to send a report by the state government on the pros and cons of the Kasturirangan report. But the administration has not responded yet. Forget about the report, we have seen three DCs in a year in Udupi district, and none of them visited this place. They are least concerned about the problems of the people," he said.
Satish Mutlupadi, president of Karkala unit of Kasturirangan Virodhi Horata Samiti pointed out that the government had initially failed to translate the Kasturirangan report into Kannada for the benefit of the people, but later due to public pressure, the report was translated. "But even then, pages 36 and 72 on tiger and elephant reserves were left out during translation," he said.
"Instead of appointing an environmental expert to prepare the report, a space scientist (K Kasturirangan) was given this job. It shows the apathy of the government towards the people," he added.
Bhaskar Joyce and Naveen Adyanthaya, honourary president and president of the Kasturirangan Virodhi Horata Samiti also spoke on the occasion.