Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (RJP)

Kundapur, Oct 13: Protesting against the inclusion of Vandse village in the environment sensitive zone in connection to the Kasturirangan report, a massive rally and road block was held here on Tuesday, October 13.

The protestors demanded that the village be excluded from the 'unscientific' report and the deputy commissioner and tahasildar visit the place and listen to their woes. The shops in the village were closed spontaneously in support of the protest.

Addressing the protestors, taluk panchayat member H Manjayya Shetty said, "There is confusion over how and who included the village which is away from the Western Ghats. People should not suffer because of such irresponsibility."

B M Sukumara Shetty said, "We have brought the issue of unscientific inclusion of the village to the notice of the member of parliament during the Raitta Chaitanya Yatre (of BJP). Elected representatives should put more pressure on the government to exclude Vandse village from the report."

Gram panchayat president Udayakumar Shetty said, "Though Vandse is situated 20 kilometres away from the Western Ghats, the report wrongly mentions the distance as 10 kilometres. The place is very close to the sea and is part of CRZ. The place is thickly inhabited and there is not much of forest here. Hence, its inclusion in the report is highly unscientific."

The protestors insisted that the tahsildar come and accept their memorandum. Later, a memorandum addressed to the deputy forest officer through the forest range officer and another to deputy commissioner through the deputy tahsildar were sent. The protestors said that if the special meeting was not held in the presence of the tahsildar and the DFO and a satisfactory reply not given, the protest would be intensified.

Former gram panchayat president Vadamballi Jayarama Shetty, V K Shivarama Shetty, Sanjiva Poojary, Srinivasa Poojary, Milk producers’ cooperative society president Thyampanna Shetty, Abdul Muthali Vandse, gram panchayat members Udaya Naik, Gundu Poojary, Vijay from Ashirvad friends were present among others.