Combing operations underway against Maoists, weapons recovered: K’taka Home Minister

Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister for Home G. Parameshwara said on Wednesday that the police and special forces have launched a search operation against Maoists in the state, saying that the authorities have also recovered weapons.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Parameshwara said that the combing operations are taken up for three to four days following the spotting of four to six naxals.

“The group included naxal leader Mundagaru Latha and others. On Tuesday, the officers found few weapons in the combing operations and the search operations are going on,” he added.

Meanwhile, sources said that the Anti-Naxal Force (NAF) and authorities have launched a combing operation in the Karkala region of Udupi district of the coastal region.

“The drones and dog squads are used for search operations in forests and isolated areas. A high alert has been issued in Sringeri, Koppa, Mudigere and Kalasa taluks of Chikkamagaluru district,” they said.

They added that the authorities have seized two guns in the search operations at a house in Kadegundi village in Chikkamagaluru and detained two persons.

“The case has been lodged in this regard with Jayapura police station, sources stated. The search operation was also launched in other parts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts,” sources said.

They said that the intelligence had gathered inputs about the movement of Maoists in the region and it was confirmed by the locals, adding that the Maoists are believed to have gone into the thick forests of the Western Ghat.

“The inputs are being collected from local tribes who frequent forests,” they said.

Sources further stated that the Maoists are trying to create the base in the coastal Karnataka region and Malnad (hilly) regions of the state following the debate on the implementation of the Kasturirangan report, which recommends eviction of farmers to save the Western Ghats.

The coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Malnad districts of Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga. The Maoists are planning to encash the insecurity of farmers and people of these regions fearing their eviction after the implementation of the Kasturi Rangan report. The authorities have gathered information that the team led by Mundagaru Latha is meeting the families living on the fringes of the forest areas and conducting meetings.

The classification of 56,826 square kilometers of Western Ghat region including the area in Karnataka and other states as per the report of the Kasturirangan Committee by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has raised stiff opposition in the state.

The Karnataka government has already rejected the Kasturirangan Committee report and opposed the recommendations of the report. It is feared that the development of the region will suffer with the implementation of the report.

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had clarified in the virtual meeting with Bhupinder Yadav, former Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change that classifying the Western Ghat region as a sensitive zone will impact the life of people of the region and affect their livelihood. He also added that the proposal is opposed by the people as well as the state government.

Karnataka state has one of the largest forest cover in the country. Experts have opined that opposition to the Kasturirangan Committee is disastrous for ecologically fragile Western Ghats. The report proposes that 37 per cent of the total area of the Western Ghats, which is about 60,000 square kilometres, should be declared as an eco-sensitive area (ESA).

Out of this, 20,688 square kilometres will fall in Karnataka state covering 1,576 villages. The report has recommended a prohibition on mining, quarrying, setting up of red-category industries and thermal power projects.

The Kasturirangan Committee was a 10-member High-Level Working Group (HLWG) on the Western Ghats. The committee was led by K. Kasturirangan, a former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation and space scientist. The committee was formed in 2012 to examine the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report and the Gadgil Committee report.

However, the implementation of the recommendations had taken a complicated turn with lakhs of farmers fearing displacement and naxals entering the scenario.