Karnataka - Madikeri   

Sene told not to block projects

Staff Correspondent

Kodagu Citizens' Forum opposes high tension power line through forests

Madikeri: A group of citizens from Virajpet taluk in Kodagu on Friday appealed to the Cauvery Sene, an outfit claiming to cleanse the administration of corruption, not to put hurdles in several development projects scheduled to be taken up in Kodagu.

Addressing presspersons here, Nanda Subbaiah, member of the Kodagu Citizens' Forum and former president of the Codagu Planters Association (CPA), said the sene cadres were objecting to the development schemes in Kodagu, when they were set to benefit the people of the district.

Mr. Subbaiah said the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission M. Veerappa Moily was urged to take up the issue of the proposed 400 kV high tension power line transmission from Kaiga in Karwar to Kerala, via the Kodagu forests.

Expressing opposition to the proposed project, Mr. Subbaiah said it would cause huge forest destruction, destroy coffee plantations and endanger human lives. Mr. Moily, in turn, had written a strongly worded letter to Union Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde over the views of the coffee growers.

Mr. Moily had asked the Minister to reconsider the decision and allow passage of power lines parallel to the existing 220 kV power lines.

The citizens who were for development would pressure the elected representatives to achieve their goal. The same members had also filed an objection with the Delimitation Commission of India, which had notified that three Assembly segments in Kodagu would be re-adjusted to two, based on the population criterion. Hearing was yet to take place, Mr. Subbaiah added. The forum would attend the KERC meeting convened at Mysore on October 9 and 10 to argue for lowering the IP set tariff levied on the farmers in Kodagu at commercial rates.

Uthappa, senior member, said people looked forward to the court decision on according tree rights to landholders as successive Governments had failed to find a solution.

K.R. Vidyadhar, Hafeez Khan, Harish and Jais were present.

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