Shivamogga: Environmental activist Shashi Sampalli requested chief minister DK Shivakumar to immediately abolish the Karnataka State Western Ghats Conservation Task Force committee.Sampalli criticised the panel’s policy trajectory, questioning whether the task force exists to safeguard the ecologically sensitive zone or to facilitate its destruction. The demand comes following an official inter-departmental review meeting held at the deputy commissioner’s office here on Friday, chaired by task force chairman Mohammad Tabrez Alam Shariff.During the session, the chairman directed officials to compile reports on quarrying licences granted across the Western Ghats region, review disputed industrial land in Heddaripura, Hosanagara taluk, and fast-track forest and wildlife clearance processes for Siganduru Chowdeshwari Temple land in Sagara taluk.The meeting also addressed reports on dargahs in Shivamogga’s Ghats region, underground cabling near Maleshantara Temple in Shettihalli wildlife sanctuary and the establishment of the Jog Falls and Western Ghats Experience Centre in coordination with the tourism department. While the panel announced public eco-measures such as making tourist spots plastic-free zones modelled after Ooty, releasing a Western Ghats anthem, and launching a mobile museum in a Volvo bus, activists argue that prioritising commercial land disputes, quarry permits, and tourist infrastructure undermines core forest conservation, urging nature lovers to demand the panel’s immediate dissolution.
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