Environmentalists Back Gadgil Committee Report On Western Ghats Conservation Kannur: At a time when the Centre has conceded to Kerala’s demands on Western Ghats by withdrawing its inprinciple acceptance of the Kasturirangan committee report, many environmentalists are harping on implementing the suggestions of the Madhav Gadgil committee report for its conservation. Greens say that the laterite quarries are posing a serious threat to the biodiversity in the Western Ghats region and it is high time to take some serious measures to protect the laterite plateaus as they are not only the treasure trove of biodiversity but also the natural resource of fresh water. “The gravity of the environmental threat posed by the laterite quarries and sand mining came to the fore in a recent study conducted in the plateaus of Blathur in the northeastern side of Kannur disitrict,” says T P Padmanabhan, environmentalist and director of SEEK, an organization devoted to environmental studies. Places like Madayipara, Kadaladippara, Kanayikkanam in Kannur and Kasaragod are already disintegrated due to indiscriminate mining and if effective steps are not taken Blathur will also face the same fate and the place will fall in the hands of the mining and quarry lobbies, he adds. These are all spur hills of the Western Ghats and they need to be protected by implementing the suggestions of Gadgil committee report, he says. These hills are also a reservoir for fresh water and as per an estimate, in Madayippara itself nearly 350 crore litres of water are stored according to studies, says SEEK. In a recent study at the plateau of Blathur and surrounding areas like Oorathur, nearly 450 varieties of flowering plants were spotted, says V C Balakrishnan, secretary, SEEK. “During a one-day study, we also spotted 10 of the 30 endemic grass varieties in the Western Ghats and we are sure in the future more such varieties can be spotted,” he says, stressing on the need to protect the place. Their plan is to conduct study once a month at Blathur for a year and make an action plan for the conservation of the biodiversity there, he says. “We spotted some varieties of flowering plants like hopea ponga, eanotis rheedei, tabernaemontana alternifolia, alysicarpus bupleurifolius and nymphoides parvifolia, among others. The interesting find was the spotting of aganope thyrsiflora var eualata, the leaf of which is the food of larvae of the rare variety of purple spotted flitter butterfly, recently spotted in Kerala,” he says, adding that there is a possibility of the presence of many types of butterflies and dragon flies there.