BJP MLC Basavaraj Horatti has urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to initiate bold measures to protect Kappatagudda from mining activities.
“Miners are eyeing Kappatagudda once again. The forest wealth at Kappatagudda is under threat. Bold measures should be taken to protect and preserve the Kappatagudda,” Horrati has said in a letter addressed to the chief minister.
“The government should mercilessly reject proposals for mining at Kappatagudda without yielding to any pressure. A task force should be constituted for protecting the hill. The government should also come out with special projects in this regard,” the MLC suggested.
Horatti hoped that Bommai, who hails from north Karnataka and knows about the forest wealth at the hill, will take special interest and protect the natural resources.
The Kappatgudda should be protected on the lines of Western Ghats, he suggested. The government notified the Kappatgudda as a wildlife sanctuary in 2019. The government order and the Supreme Court order ban any type of mining within the 10-km radius of the sanctuary.
“The government’s decision to limit the ecologically sensitive zone to just one-kilometre radius is against the court order. The move also ignores consequences of mining on the environment,” Horatti noted in the letter.