Taking exception to the latest draft notification issued by the Centre on Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) in Western Ghats region, legislators from Karnataka’s Western Ghats area, cutting across party affiliations, and Ministers have decided to take up a legal fight against it. A delegation led by the Chief Minister will also meet Central authorities.
A meeting of legislators from Malnad region, convened by Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, who too hails from there, arrived at this decision on Monday in Bengaluru.
The recent notification has listed 20,668 sq km of area in Karnataka as ESA of the total extent of 46,832 sq km of ESA in the country spread across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu. It has identified 1,572 villages in 10 districts of Karnataka as those covered by regulations and restrictions related to ESA.
