Bengaluru: ‘Jhatkaa’, a campaigning organisation, has started an online petition urging the Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to declare the Western Ghats an eco-sensitive area (ESA). This petition has been agreed to by five other states.

Previously, in September it was reported that Karnataka was not in line with the Centre’s draft to declare the Ghats an ESA. Doing so would prohibit activities such as mining or setting up of red category industries which would pollute that ecosystem. This petition has stated that political interest should not stand in the way of preventing disasters like the one which took place in Kerala and Karnataka recently. This was after the government declined to state that it would affect the state’s economy.

Prior to this, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had put a halt on the land conversion in the area to figure out the man-made reasons for the floods in Kodagu.

With the August floods in Kerala which claimed more than 400 lives as an example, the experts have predicted future disasters, if more damage is done to the ecology of the ghats.