Manipal: Shobha Karandlaje, the MP from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency, clarified that there was no proposal to create a tiger reserve in Kudremukh National Park.
She was addressing the mediapersons at a press meet held at her office Rajathadri, Manipal here on Sunday, May 3. Karandlaje said that people in some villages near the Western Ghats in Karkala and Chikkamagaluru were frightened about the creation of a tiger reserve in the area. Some leading newspapers had reported that the Union Ministry had taken measures to declare the Kudremukh National Park as a tiger reserve and that had created apprehension among the villagers, especially those living near the fringes of the forest.
“The Union government has not initiated such a move. When D V Sadanadana Gowda was the Chief Minister of Karnataka, he had written to the Centre to drop the creation of Project Tiger in the Kudremukh National Park. The present Congress-led state government has also clearly stated that there are no new tiger reserve projects in the state. Some groups with vested interests are misleading the public saying that if a reserve was set up, a lot of restrictions would be enforced on them,” she said.
