In a move which could embarrass the state BJP government, Higher Education minister C.T. Ravi openly criticized the move of his government in opposing the heritage tag for 10 spots in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. The State government has been opposing the UN heritage tag for Western Ghats ever since the list of 39 sites was announced.
Stating that commenting more on the issue could take a political twist, the minister, who comes from Chikmagalur, strongly recommended that any doubts in the minds of the locals living around the heritage sites should be cleared. “There is no point in opposing the tag. Development does not mean only creating big structures, the value of biological diversity that we possess is immense. Our ancestors valued these treasures and erected temples and sacred forests around villages to safeguard them for future. In my personal view, the tag for Western Ghats sites is necessary, but before that the people living around must be taken into consideration,” Mr Ravi said.
The Minister was speaking after the signing of MoU between VTU, Belgaum and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to establish a ‘Parisara Chair’ at VTU, here on Wednesday. Vice Chancellor of VTU, Dr Maheshappa, called on engineering students and faculty to involve themselves in research activities so that research do not become monopoly of science and business institutes in India.
“We have earmarked Rs 1 crore to encourage research activities in engineering colleges and we are also trying to fund the projects of students of final-year BE courses”, Dr Maheshappa said. It may be recalled that last week, BJP MP from the city, Mr Ananth Kumar, had also criticized the State government’s move to oppose the heritage tag, saying that “it was like opposing the Nobel Prize”