Hundreds of farmers staged a protest and attempt to lay siege to the Assistant Commissioner’s office in Sagar on Thursday, opposing the draft notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change declaring parts of the Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), as per the recommendations of the expert committee headed by K. Kasturirangan.The protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations across Malnad districts against the notification — the Centre’s seventh such draft on the subject — which farmers’ groups say threatens to bring inhabited areas and farmland under ESA restrictions.Led by former Minister and BJP leader Haratalu Halappa and Raita Sangha district president Dinesh Shiravala, the farmers took out a protest march through the town before reaching the AC’s office. Along the march, they raised slogans against the Kasturirangan Committee and urged the State government to formally oppose the draft notification. At the office, protesters attempted to remove police barricades and force their way in; tension prevailed on the premises for some time before police brought the situation under control and stopped them from entering.The protesters argued that the ESA notification would impose a range of restrictions on people living in villages in the foothills of the Western Ghats. Farmers, they said, would face curbs on the use of fertilizers, besides restrictions on construction activity — with further restrictions likely to follow in the coming days if the notification were implemented. They urged the State government to press the Centre to exclude human habitats and agricultural land from the notification’s scope. Published - August 27, 2026 08:21 pm IST