Restrain Order Sought On Navy’s Target Practice On Nethrani Island

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A writ petition has been filed in the Karnataka High Court seeking restraining order to prevent the Indian Navy from using the ecologically-sensitive Nethrani Island for target practice.
The petition, filed by conservationists AN Karthik, P Manjunath and three others, will come up for hearing on October 24, said BR Deepak, the counsel for the petitioners.
The petition was filed based on a report that appeared in [i]DNA[/i]. “The article appearing in [i]DNA [/i]on May 30 has been cited as Annexure A in the petition. It (the article) opened a range of discussions and opinions against the Indian Navy’s target practice in Nethrani Island,” said Deepak.
Following publication of the report in [i]DNA[/i], additional director general of police (forest) AS Chikkerur, visited Nethrani Island and found empty shells, fired from battleships of Indian Navy, strewn around the area.
After interacting with locals and biodiversity experts, Chikkerur learnt that there were many unexploded shells in the island. There was enormous damage done to the ecosystem of Nethrani Island, found Chikkerur during his visit.
The Nethrani Island, which has been declared as a biodiversity heritage site, continues be a site for target practice despite letters by the state government to the defence ministry and Navy Western Command in Mumbai.
Reacting to the demands, chief of the Naval staff, Admiral Nirmal Verma, during his visit to Kadamba Naval base in Karwar recently, had justified the target practice on Nethrani Island.
“Nethrani is the most convenient target available to Navy in Western Command area,” he said.
Nethrani Island is one of the top repositories of marine species and geographical feature in the country.
[url="http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_restrain-order-sought-on-navys-target-practice-on-nethrani-island_1601996"]http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_restrain-order-sought-on-navys-target-practice-on-nethrani-island_1601996[/url]


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