Karnataka today said it has accepted the Kasturirangan committee report on the Western Ghats to stop mining but said it would not stop quarrying and sand mining in the ecologically sensitive area.
"We have accepted the recommendation to stop mining in Western Ghats but disagreed to stop quarrying and sand mining in the ecologically-sensitive Western Ghats," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandhra told reporters here.
He said the state cabinet had taken the decision as lack of sand supply had already crippled developmental and infrastructural activities across the state.
The government is not against Kasturirangan report but against demarcation of ecologically-sensitive areas in the Western Ghats, the minister said.
"Instead of including 1,580 villages in ecologically- sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, the cabinet has decided to include 850 villages," he said.
The Kasturirangan Panel had recommended a ban on development activities in 60,000 sq km ecologically-sensitive area spread over six states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Jayachandra said the state is confident of convincing the Centre to delete those recommendations that would 'adversely' affect the people.
He also said the cabinet has decided to give Rs 40,000 assistance for one hectare to farmers who were hit by untimely rains and hailstorms."The amount is more than what Maharashtra government has announced, Rs 25,000 per hectare," he added.
Asked why the government has decided to provide aid to only one hectare, the minister said most farmers hold one to two hectares of land.
Government would utilise the fund released from National Disaster Response Fund to compensate farmers and others who had suffered crop and property loss due to hailstorm,he said.
The hailstorm had damaged rabi crops, including wheat, pulses, oilseeds and horticultural crops in over two lakh hectares in Yadagir, Gulbarga, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Raichur, Koppal, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts.
The minister said government had submitted a memorandum to a central study team, which toured the state in March, and urged the Centre to calculate financial aid on the basis of the extent of loss.
