Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy (file pic)
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the Kasturirangan report on conservation of Western Ghats.
Talking about the "apprehensions" created by the panel's report among the locals, Chief Minister's memorandum states, "The procedure adopted by the panel to select Ecologically Sensitive Areas remote sensing and satellite data does not reflect the ground reality and is erroneous".
Chief Minister has asked for an amendment in order for ESA to be decided on basis of physical verification to identify actual habitation and agricultural land which then need to be deleted from existing list of Ecologically Sensitive Areas.
Kerala has been witnessing a series of protests in its high ranges after the directives issued by the Central government to implement the Kasturirangan panel report in states. The Chief Minister has assured the people that nothing from the panel report that's against the interest of the locals will be implemented in Kerala.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in Thiruvananthapuram to inaugurate the Total E-literacy programme and unveil the foundation stone for the Global Learning Centre of Tata Consultancy Services.