The Centre has informed a delegation from Karnataka that the draft notification of Ecologically Sensitive Areas in Western Ghats will not be implemented till the report from a high-level committee headed by retired IFS officer Sanjay Kumar is received on the issue.
This was disclosed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who led the delegation to the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Monday to clarify the State’s stand. “All States having Western Ghats have got another chance now to convince the ground realities.”
The Chief Minister also announced that a high-level committee at the State-level will be set up in Karnataka based on the terms of reference of the committee set up by the Centre. “The State committee will help in providing facts, figures and ground realities when the Centrally appointed committee visits the State. The State will ask for consideration of village as a unit and to hear the views of the gram panchayat when the committee comes,” he said, terming the Kasturirangan Committee report as “unscientific”.
