Chandy Making Strong Force to Push Kasturirangan Report

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has put strongly the Kasturirangan Project for the conservation of Western Ghats.

Mr. Chandy appears to have succeeded to an extent in presenting Kerala’s case before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Central government, besides making a major political point for the benefit of the Congress party’s core constituency, the thrifty Christian community of Central Travancore.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s assurance that a final decision will be taken only after consultations with the State governments concerned is indeed a consolation, but the Minister’s statement that both the Gadgil committee and the Kasturirangan committee reports will be examined together and that the views of other States will also be considered is equally significant. Environment protection was as important as protecting the lives of the people, Mr. Javadekar said in Delhi.

The Kasturirangan committee itself was appointed after States such as Kerala expressed apprehension at the impact of the Gadgil report. During the fag end of the UPA II Ministry term, the row over the identification of 123 villages as ecologically sensitive areas shook the UDF government.

The Congress lost the Idukki seat, besides doing very badly in some of the Assembly segments in the high ranges. The BJP in Kerala had supported the Gadgil committee report and the Bharatiya Vichar Kendram, the think tank of the RSS, held a seminar here the other day initiating a debate on the pros and cons of the issue.

Src- http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/chandy-pushes-for-kasturirangan-report/article6075560.ece?

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