Karnataka averse to heritage sites in Western Ghats

Stating that the Unesco recommendation to declare 10 properties in Western Ghats as World Heritage Sites would forfeit its power to take up developmental work in the area, the state government has decided to oppose the move by the United Nations agency. A recommendation would be sent to the Centre in this regard.

A meeting headed by forest minister CH Vijayshankar and attended also by senior ministers VS Acharya, Suresh Kumar, Krishna Palemar and chairman of the Western Ghats task force, Ananth Hegde Asisera, MP Sadananda Gowda and MLA CT Ravi took the decision on Tuesday.

Forest minister CH Vijayashankar said, “The state government is capable of protecting the rich flora and fauna of the Western Ghats. If we yield to the pressure of the Union government and accept the proposal, the state will forfeit the power to take up developmental work in the area, and that could cause problems for forest dwellers. All political representatives from the region have opposed the move. Considering their opposition, we have decided to oppose the proposal of the Centre, which is based on the recommendation of the UNESCO.”

The Unesco team faced stiff opposition from locals when they visited Coorg. Officials were even locked up in anger. While visiting parts of the state in October 2010, Unesco officials had said that there would be no point in declaring areas heritage sites if there was such strong opposition from local communities. The agitators claimed they were not being consulted about the fate of their habitats and self-proclaimed environmentalists were setting the agenda, preventing development works and gathering large sums of money from different foreign sources.

UNESCO had earlier identified 39 sites in the Western Ghats that could be declared World Heritage Sites. A recommendation was sent to the Union government and the Centre in turn sought the opinion of the states in which the different sites were located.