Farmers take out protest march in Hosanagara against ESA notification

Hundreds of farmers took part in a protest march in Hosanagara on Saturday opposing the ESA announcement. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Hundreds of farmers on Saturday took part in a protest march from Karanagiri to Hosanagara, about nine kilometres, against the seventh draft notification which declared more than 20,668 sq km. the area around the Western Ghats in the state as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).

Farmers and elected representatives participated in the march under the banner of Western Ghats Raitha Sahakari Vedike. Along the route, they raised slogans against the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. They carried placards opposing the Kasturirangan Committee report on the basis of which the notification was issued.

Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra, former minister Araga Jnanendra, Sagar MLA Belur Gopal Krishna and Western Ghats president Raitha Sahakari Okkuta MR Manjunath Gowda, among others, participated in the protest and addressed a gathering at Hosanagara.

The leaders insisted that they would stand united on the issue, putting political differences aside. They urged the state government to conduct a physical survey of the land and keep human habitations and cultivated landscape out of the notification scope.

Mr. Manjunath Gowda said that the neighboring state of Kerala had succeeded in reducing the extent of the area under ESA after conducting a physical survey and that a similar exercise should be done in Karnataka.

The organization is scheduled to hold similar protest marches in Sagar, Tirthahalli, Shikaripura and other parts of the district to spread awareness about the issue and compel the government to take action, organizers said.

Published – 29 Aug 2026 19:35 IST