The Forest Department has said that a public hearing was not required to declare 45 out of 49 villages identified in the district in the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA).
H.D. Kote is the only taluk in the district coming under the Western Ghat landscape and all the 49 villages which have been identified for declaration as ESA fall in the taluk. The report identified nearly 60,000 sq km of natural landscape as ESA, spread across Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
The Forest Department has pointed out that out of 49 villages identified in the report as ESA, 45 villages are already notified as buffer zones or core zones of either Bandipur or Nagarahole national parks, and hence, a public hearing was redundant.
“The others are by default ecologically-sensitive areas and hence the public hearing will be restricted to just four of the villages,” said V. Karikalan, DCF, Mysuru. He said that 26 villages were in Bandipur buffer zone and 19 villages were in Nagarahole buffer zone.
A public hearing and objections would be invited from only four villages, namely Honnurkuppe, Thenekallu, Chikkakundur and Ankupura. However, Mr. Karikalan pointed out that field verification has indicated that three out of the four villages exist only in name as the families have shifted or been relocated to nearby settlements. The fourth, Honnurkuppe, is surrounded by the Kabini backwaters on three sides and has an approach road from one side. The villages gets marooned during the monsoon and only 15 families live here.
A village-level committee has been constituted to elicit public opinion which will visit the villages in due course. The authorities have also established a separate cell in the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mysuru to collect public opinion, which can be contacted at dcmys_kar@nic.in and dcfmdm@gmail.com by 3 p.m. of November 27, according to Mr. Karikalan. The Kasturirangan report has recommended a prohibitory and regulatory regime in these villages to minimise the destructive impact on the eco-system. Consequently, there will be a ban on mining, quarrying and sand extraction in all ESAs. Current mining areas are to be phased out within the next five years, or at the time of expiry of mining lease whichever is earlier.
