COORG LANDSLIDES: DID KARNATAKA MISLEAD PM MODI WITH A COCK AND BULL STORY?

By P.T. Bopanna

Did the Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka resort to a cock and bull story in the report submitted to prime minister Modi (in picture) on the landslides in Kodagu (Coorg)?

In its report to the Union government, Karnataka government claimed that the landslides were caused due to full storage in the four dams in Karnataka following heavy rains in the Cauvery catchment areas.

Such blatant lies in the report amounts to adding insult to the injuries suffered by the people of Kodagu due to landslides and the rain havoc caused mainly on account of the looting of the forest wealth in the hill district by the Kerala timber mafia backed by politicians of all shades, including the BJP.

A Times of India (TOI) report said as part of its 137 page report submitted to the Centre and the prime minister, the Karnataka government said: “The heavy rainfall and huge amount of water released from the reservoirs flowing in the downstream channels – some of them running parallel to the roads, scooped the area by causing landslides in the adjoining hills and severe damage to roads and buildings in the area.”

Those who are familiar with the topography of the area know that the Harangi dam, the only major dam located in Kodagu, is actually situated near Kushalanagar on the border of Kodagu and Mysore districts. None of the hillocks around Madikeri are in the downstream of the dam (refer to the map). The distances between most of areas where the landslide occurred and the dam is between 25 to 30 km.

The TOI report quotes a geologist as saying that the landslides were ‘man made’ and primarily caused by the looting of the Kodagu forests by timber mafia.

In the circumstances, the JD (S)-Congress government headed by chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy should submit a fresh report citing scientific reasons for the calamity in Kodagu, instead of misleading the prime minister with a falsified report.