Udupi : The residents of the villages coming under the proposed tiger reserve Project staged a huge protest in front of the DC’s office here demanding justice and immediate dropping of the proposal.

Speaking on the occasion, Kemaru mutt seer Esha Vitaldas Swamiji said the government should not keep the proposal on but outrightly reject it. The government and bureaucracy have kept the people in darkness over the project. The residents in the area are in dilemma. The State government should respond to the letter sent by the centre seeking opinion over the project. The seer demanded the government to make its decision clear. There is no question of implementing the project which leads to the displacement of villages.

As many as 13 villages; 10 in Belthangady and three in Kundapur taluk will be affected. Majority of the people in these areas belong to the Malekudiya community and the forest continues to exist only because of them. They are conserving the vast treasure of forests in this belt. The project will only end up victimising Malekudiya community people, Esha Vitaldas Swamiji cautioned.

Udupi district Malekudiya community former president Uliru Sridhar Gowda said that the people who reside in the area have a deep bond with the region as well as they have cultivation here. The elected representatives are playing with the lives of innocents. He urged the MPs and MLAs to raise their voices against the project. The Forest Act 2001 enables one to seek justice against bureaucracy and government in case of injustices meted out at them.

If at all the government decides to go ahead with the project, a massive protest will be held by blocking of Agumbe highway, Gowda threatened. The project should be executed in a place where there is no human habitat. The people in the area are totally against the project irrespective of the compensation package , he added.

Girijana Community leader from Chikmagalur S A Mariyappa alleged that vote bank politics has destroyed the peace of the people in the area. Both the State government and centre should clarify their stance on the burning issue. The government should immediately declare the status of the project.

Kamala Malekudiya, aged 90 from Andaru strongly opposed the project and said that the proposed project had created fears of displacement in the minds of the residents. She told Deccan Herald that she is living with her joint family which is solely dependent on agriculture activities. It is highly impossible to get detached from the soil, which they are associated with since several decades , she added.

Shama Gowda from Nadpalu is firm on his stand on not to compromise with the compensation package. “It is not the question of money. It is the question of life and bonding. I am 75 years old and I don’t think I can shift and adjust to a new unfamiliar surrounding elsewhere in this ripe age,” he added.

Annappa Shetty who owns more than 3.5 acre of farming land in Kudlu too echoed the same opinion that it is not possible to adapt to a new place and culture. “The livelihood may not be as easy as it is here and we may not find comfortable living in the new place,” he added.