Western Ghats report may spoil the chances of Congress

Thiruvananthapuram: The implementation of Dr K Kasturirangan committee report aimed at preserving the Western Ghats will have its implications in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with the Congress expected to be the worst sufferer. The hunger strike by the Western Ghats people protection committee has entered the sixth day with their demand that the human inhabited, agricultural and the plantation areas should be excluded from the areas marked as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA's).

If a draft notification in this regard does not come from the Ministry of Environment and Forest ahead of the election notifications the UDF will be the worst affected. The affected areas are in the central Travancore and the high range area. Kerala Congress Chairman and Finance Minister KM Mani stated that if the draft notification is not published then he won't be averse to resignation. The LDF is making efforts to cash in on the situation and this is a subject in their election manifesto, they have taken strong stand against the implementation of the report in human inhabited areas.

One hundred and twenty three villages in the state have been marked as ESA's in the state. Father Abraham Kavil Purayidathil, Co-ordinator of Western Ghats people protection committee said that if the draft notification does not come they will try their to see that the UDF candidates in their areas will not win the Lok Sabha elections.

Their main concern is that if the report recommendations are implemented there will be several restrictions and the farmers will not be able to cultivate in their lands freely. They do not allow usage of chemical fertilizers but at the same time the government is not doing anything to provide natural fertilizers to the farmers with some subsidy. The onus of saving nature is left with the farmers of these 123 villages but in other places the quarry and resort mafia has no restrictions.

The state government has taken up the issue with the Ministry of Environment and Forest and has requested to remove about 2,500 sq km to 3,000 sq km from ESA as it is human inhabited. There are reports that a draft notification is expected from the Union Ministry anytime.