CANACONA: Environmentalists and green activists under the banner of ‘Goenkar’ has petitioned Minister for Roads, Bridges & Highways, Nitin Gadkari to save Karmal Ghat and its unique distinct species of flora and fauna by constructing a tunnel under the Ghats for road widening project from Gulem to Balli on NH66.
The members of ‘Goenkar’ speaking about the petition said that the petition was supposed to be handed to the Union minister when he was scheduled to visit Canacona for the inauguration of “Manohar Parrikar Sea side link” last week.
But due to his last minute cancellation of the visit to the taluka we have posted the petition to his officials address in Delhi, said Vikas Bhagat the general secretary of Goenkar.
The petition stresses that the Karmal Ghat, as a unique part of the Western Ghats, and is one of the few headlands on the 1600 km length where it touches the Arabian Sea.
Karmal Ghat is a key ecological hotspot and it is probable that due to its exclusive geo-morphological features, this region is home to dozens of as yet to be identified and recorded species.
The deeply dissected terrain of the Western Ghats produces localized variations in rainfall and habitat types and creates hotspots of endemism by limiting species distributions Bhagat added.
Karmal Ghat is classified as North Western Ghats Moist Deciduous Forests and hosts populations of wild cats, slender loris, pangolin, bison, four-horned antelope, mouse deer, giant squirrel among many other rare, endemic and threatened species of flora and fauna.
The road widening if done by cutting the hills and axing over 13,000 trees it will result in a drastic impact over the region which already has witnessed extensive loss of its wildlife and biodiversity.
