Meera Bhardwaj:
The appointment of members to Karnataka State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) by Siddaramaiah government shows how serious is this government about eco-issues. The SBWL is a statutory body which advises the state government on wildlife conservation with the chief minister being the chairperson.
In the background of pushing development projects and linear structures in the forest bound districts of Karnataka, the state government has appointed people with political connections who have neither expertise nor knowledge about ecology, wildlife and forest habitat.
CONSERVATION GOES FOR A TOSS
Under Section 6 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, 10 out of 31 members of the state wildlife board should be “Eminent Conservationists” but the state government has filled the State Wildlife Board with sons and daughters of ministers and MLAs & party workers who are neither experts nor wildlife conservationists. Further, one member is a general surgeon while another an orthodontist.
According to sources, the decision of Minister of Forests, Environment & Ecology Eshwar Khandre was overruled by the Chief Minister and so, the list of members on the board underwent a complete change.
RECOMMENDATIONS OVERRULED
Expressing serious concern over the appointments, environmental activists from Kodagu said, “This is horrible and disgusting. How could the CM overrule the recommendations made by Khandre? The Human-Elephant conflict is so grave in the state that even the frontline staff like the poorly trained watchers have been trampled to death by elephants. Now how could the government fill the board with non-conservationists and non-experts?”
Apart from CM as chairperson & Minister of Forests as vice-chairman and 13 ex-officio members, the two MLAs & one MLC who have been appointed are –
- Ashok Pattan (Ramdurg, Belgaum), graduate and profession – social service
- H M Ganesh Prasad (Gundlupet, Chamrajnagar), graduate & profession – agriculture, business and
- Puttana (MLC, Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency), MA History, profession – agriculture & business.
Now how these three legislators will help the cause of ecology, it remains to be seen.
Further, under the list of 10 Eminent Conservationists, biologists, environmentalists and ecologists (as per Wildlife Protection Act, 1972), people with no expertise have been appointed and five are from Bengaluru.
The 10 Expert members include:
- Dhruv M Patil, Bengaluru, son of M B Patil, Industries Minister
- Vaishali Kulkarni, daughter of Vinay Kulkarni, former mining minister & Dharwad Rural MLA
- Sanketh Poovaiah, Kodagu, Congress Spokesperson
- Dr H V Santhrupth, General Surgeon, Gopal Gowda Shanthaveri Memorial Hospital, Mysuru. In 2017, he and 6 other members including Rana George had asked the then CM Siddaramaiah for allowing entry of their own vehicles in protected areas, however, NTCA shot it down.
- Dr Rajkumar S Alle, Orthodontist & Dentofacial Orthopedics, RR Nagar, Bengaluru
- Ajit Karigudaiah, Bengaluru
- Vinay Kumar Maalige, Bidar
- Mallappa S Angadi, Bengaluru
TWO ST QUOTA MEMBERS:
- Ravindra Raghunath, Bengaluru
- Chikkanna, Mysuru
All NGO representatives are from Bengaluru and they include –
- Wildlife Association of South India, Head, Bengaluru
- Tigers unlimited Wildlife Society, Bengaluru
- Bengaluru Environmental Trust, Bengaluru
EXPERT OPINION
Praveen Bhargav, former Member, National Board for Wildlife
Karnataka is home to some of the best ecologists and conservation organizations with decades of field experience and expertise in wildlife conservation. But not even one such experienced individual has been nominated. This is certainly a new low in appointments to important Statutory Committees. Such action smacks of arbitrariness and exposes how the Government has succumbed to vested interests to scuttle conservation to push through destructive projects.
J Manjunath, Wilderness Club:
What a shame that the impression created by Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on doing good work in the department has to buckle under pressure from these political netas & uneducated nominees without any knowledge of environmental conservation and wildlife. They will be serving in the Wildlife Board to enjoy the freebies thrown by Karnataka Forest Department, so they can do their mismanagement of the department. This is the reality, as this government wants “Yes Masters” in the Wildlife Board, so that they can get easy approvals for projects in forest landscapes. Such nominees do not understand the implications of destruction of forest habitats – for instance… a dam across Mekadatu in Cauvery Tiger Reserve limits.
Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst:
When you have politically motivated projects, one can expect only such appointments. It is disheartening as Karnataka has one of the global biodiversity hotspots – the fragile Western Ghats which has been facing severe eco-issues. And, the present constitution of the Board for easy clearances is glaring. We have to ask fundamental questions on economic and financial growth as this impacts our environment – the more the GDP – the larger the diversion of forests and more the impact on people and the society.
SERIOUS ECOLOGICAL ISSUES
Many state and national highway projects have been bulldozed across forest areas in districts with Protected Areas and reserve forests by successive governments in the state.
The badly affected districts include – Uttar Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Chamrajnagar and Mysuru.
The less said the better about the rise in Human-Wildlife conflicts and deaths in these districts. Apart from this, the state govt is sitting mum on the issue of encroachment of two lakh hectares of forest lands in the state. Now how will these political appointees address such serious ecological issues of Karnataka?