DH News Service MANGALORE, Feb 12 The residents of Kalasa have expressed concern over the likely mega plan of the State government and a section of industrialists to undertake a project of mica mining in the Kalasa region adjacent to the Kudremukh ranges in Chikmagalur district. In a communique, Mr A R Colaco of Bhagyalakshmi Estate on behalf of the residents said that the first ranges of the Kudremukh section of the Western Ghats had already been sliced off without any concern for ecology, forest, water and wildlife conservation. Thie mining bogey has once again raised its ugly head, this time in the second ranges of these majestic Western Ghats, he said. The proposed mining region spanned a surveyed area of 176 acres of land, with 78 acres actually applied for and earmarked as mining area, Mr Colaco said. The proposed property included 120 acres of cultivated paddy land, over a thousand houses, two primary schools, two temples, five hills of acacia and natural rain forests, the rivulets feeding the Bhadra river and Bellikere Tank supplying water to Kalasa township, he said. The areas covered are the villages of Kalmakki, Kalagudda, Kachinkhan, Kuddade, Hinari, Gangankudike, Jenugodu and others, he added. Already, mining in Kudremukh had affected the climatic conditions, flora and fauna of the otherwise clean and peaceful Ghats and now, this mica mining project would further damage the area beyond repair, Mr Colaco said. The residents of Kalasa appealed to nature lovers, media and ecologists to help them stop beginning of the mining project and preserve the ecology. я