Political dilemma of Western Ghat states: Save ecology or shore up vote bank?

Since 2014, the Karnataka government has rejected five draft notifications issued by the Centre classifying parts of the Western Ghats as “ecologically sensitive areas” (ESAs), based on the 2013 Kasturirangan Committee’s report.

On Friday (August 2), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued the sixth one. But this time, things are slightly different.

Over the past few years, there have been recurring feuds between the state governments of Kerala and Karnataka and the Centre over relief funds following floods and landslides. The non-BJP governments in both the states have gone to great lengths, from protesting in Delhi to moving the Supreme Court, to make the Centre release more funds.

In this backdrop, the fact that the draft notifications on ESAs went largely ignored by the states governments may work to the Union government's advantage.

Tough choices

Battered by repeated landslides in the Western Ghat areas of Karnataka over the past fortnight, and after witnessing the devastation in Wayanad in the neighbouring Kerala, which is in the same proverbial boat, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government is in a quandary.

It can either accept the draft that will almost certainly upset it political apple cart but possibly save the Ghats from more destruction, or reject it and invite more ecological destruction and endanger lives but save its skin.

Shiradi Ghat landslides

While the overwhelming extent of damage caused in Kerala’s Wayanad has grabbed all the eyeballs, landslides started striking the Ghats in Karnataka even before that this monsoon.

For the past two weeks, the Shiradi Ghat stretch has been hit by repeated landslides. The one that struck Shiruru village near Ankola, leaving 10 dead, including a driver from Kerala who just vanished along with his truck, made headlines for several days. But that was not the only one.

According to government sources, “even as efforts were being made to clear the debris of the previous landslides, heavy rainfall triggered fresh landslides at the same spot. Movement of vehicles on the Mangaluru-Bengaluru highway (NH75) through Shiradi Ghat has been disrupted repeatedly following landslides at Doddathappale village in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district.

'Development' narrative

So far, the government has taken some cosmetic measures to address the landslide issue.

But what will it do about the sixth draft notifications? Will the narrative of “development” once again defeat ecological concerns and the urgent need to save the fragile Western Ghats and the lives it shelters?

Siddaramiah’s reaction to the notification confirms his hesitation. On Friday, he said in Mysuru: "While the government is against the implementation of the Kasturirangan Committee report, I would review and discuss it with the officials and (Karnataka) Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre”.

Landslide effect

The effect of the landslides has also been visible in an order issued by Khandre, directing his officials to evict all forest encroachments since 2015 and submit a compliance report with the details of such evictions. All such activities have to be ceased within a month, and legal action is to be initiated against the encroachers.

In 2015, the then Congress government had issued orders that the department would not evacuate the people who had encroached upon less than 3 acres of forest land for their livelihood before 2014. Since then, however, no step has been taken against the “bigger” encroachers.

Poll pressure

Sources in the Congress admit that the party does not want to antagonise the electorates of districts that are recommended to be ESA, especially in view of the impending polls to the local bodies. These districts, including Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Belagavi, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi, are bastions of rival BJP. And that is exactly why that party also rejected the fifth draft notification in 2022.

Leaders such as BS Yediyurappa, KS Eshwarappa, the Katti brothers of Belagavi, BL Santosh, CT Ravi, KG Bopaiah, Appachchuranjan, Pratap Simha, Shobha Karandlaje, and Vishveshwara Hegde Kagri raised objections to the fifth draft notification.

They told the BJP high command in no uncertain terms that it would be difficult for them to retain their respective constituencies if the notification was accepted.

Sides of the same coin

Similar was the pressure from the Congress leaders of these districts. As a senior party leader admitted without flinching, the party’s political stability is more important for it than protecting the environment.

In neighbouring Kerala, the situation is similar. While the successive UDF and LDF governments have continued to reject the drafts, the BJP in the state is also unlikely to push for its implementation.

Most of the regions to be potentially notified as ESAs in Kerala are dominated by settler farmers, with whom the Catholic Church holds significant influence — a constituency the saffron party is targeting for electoral gains.

What sixth draft says

According to the sixth draft notification, ESAs in Karnataka cover 20,668 sq km, comprising 1,572 villages. Uttara Kannada ranks first with 640 villages. Chamarajanagar has the least number of villages — only 21. Other districts that will be “affected” include Shivamogga (475), Chikkamagaluru (142), Belagavi (63), Mysuru (56), Kodagu (55), Dakshina Kannada (48), Udupi (37), and Hassan (35).

The MoEF&CC had issued similar gazette notifications, inviting objections to the identification and declaration of ESAs in the Western Ghats, in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. These were based om the 2013 Kasturirangan Committee report that recommended 37 per cent of the Western Ghats — covering 59,940 sq km — to be classified as ESAs. Expectedly, most of the states, including Karnataka, have continued to reject the drafts.

The sixth draft, issued on July 31 and made public on Friday, is now open for comments from the public for 60 days.

Gadgil Committee report

Even before the Kasturirangan Committee, a panel led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil recommended in 2011 that the entire Western Ghats region — spanning 1,29,000 sq km across the five states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu — be declared as ESAs. The states promptly rejected the recommendations, apparently under pressure from industrialists and locals.

Therefore, a second committee headed by then ISRO chairman and space scientist K Kasturirangan was constituted, which submitted its report in 2013. “The Kasturirangan Committee’s recommendations were superior to the Gadgil Committee’s report only in terms of ‘technicalities’, as the report was based on geographical and geological measurements gathered through satellite images.

But the need of the hour is to accept the Gadgil Committee’s recommendations, if the governments have any ecological concerns whatsoever, especially in light of the Wayanad tragedy,” said Kesari Harvoo, an expert and a documentary filmmaker on the Western Ghats.