The Western Ghats Protection Committee (WGPC) seeks a detailed study of the tremors felt in certain parts of Kasaragod and Kannur districts on October 14. It feels that the tremors could be the fallout of uncontrolled and illegal granite and laterite mining in the region.
A meeting held here on Monday condemned the false propaganda that the Madhav Gadgil report on the Western Ghats had anti-farmer suggestions in it. The biodiversity of the Western Ghats sustains farming in Kerala and the State would not have simply existed if not for the ghats.
The WGPC will hold study-cum-conservation tours raising a demand to implement the Gadgil report and to withdraw the K. Kasturirangan commission ‘formed to scuttle the report.’ Immediate stalling of illegal mining in the Western Ghats and implementation of a Supreme Court order with regard to mining are the other demands of the committee, according to a press release issued here on Monday.
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The tours are being held as part of the commencement of the second phase of the campaign for the conservation of the Western Ghats. The tour will set off from Kasaragod at 4 p.m. on October 19. The team will cover the mining regions of Kasaragod on October 20 and 21, The mining regions of the Western Ghats in Kannur will be visited on October 27 and 28. The team will also visit the eco-fragile regions of Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts. The team comprising environment scientists, activists, and writers will focus on the importance of biodiversity and the adverse effects of mining on the ghats, the release said.
The meeting was presided over by Vinod Payyada, coordinator of the committee.