Mangaluru: MLC Ivan D’Souza has urged Karnataka MPs across party lines to press the Centre to deploy a fact-finding committee before acting on the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats.Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the MLC stressed the need to evaluate the report’s impact on local residents and assess ground realities by verifying actual forest boundaries. Appealing directly to Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, Shobha Karandlaje, and V Somanna, as well as MPs, D’Souza called for united pressure on the central government to review the draft notification and reconsider implementing the Kasturirangan committee’s recommendations, which posed a major challenge to the people of the region.“We support the conservation of Western Ghats, but oppose the implementation of the report in its existing form. I will convene a meeting of stakeholders affected by the report in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi within a week. Views of people, who are likely to be affected through the implementation of the report, will be gathered. I will also raise the issue during the three day special session of the Karnataka legislature to be held from Sept 21 to 23,” D’Souza said.Stating that the Karnataka government had rejected the draft notification on the Kasturirangan report six times in the past, the MLC said that the Centre was repeatedly exerting pressure to implement it.
