'Kasturirangan report not legally maintainable'

Former Chairman of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board, V S Vijayan, today claimed that the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats was not legally maintainable and asked authorities to reject it.
The High Level Working Group on Western Ghats headed by K Kasturirangan has "sabotaged" recommendations of Madhav Gadgil's recommendations on conservation of the Ghats and environment equilibrium, he told reporters here.
Vijayan, a member of the Gadgil Committee, claimed the Kasturirangan report was not legally maintainable as it had transgressed the terms and reference of the notification issued by the government in this regard.
The Kasturirangan Committee was empowered to look into the complaints against the Gadgil report and accept the suggestions for protection of the Western Ghats and environment and not to counter the contents of the Gadgil Committee report, he said.

Vijayan urged the authorities to reject the Kasturirangan report totally as it amounted to create misunderstanding among the gullible public.
Gadgil's committee's report was oriented to public benefit, democratic, environment-friendly, just and within the terms and reference of the notification issued for the purpose with a view to protecting the environment and the Western Ghats, which was included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO in July last, Vijayan said.
Kasturirangan Group's recommendations were not "legally maintainable and anti-humane," he added.
CPI-M's objections to the Gadgil Committee's recommendations were "politically motivated" with a view to creating a "vote bank in the hilly areas" on this count in view of the Lok Sabha elections and lacked substance, Vijayan claimed.