In a bid to gather momentum for a consensus on delineating Eco-Sensitive Areas (ESA) in Western Ghats, the Centre held a meeting with five of the six states that are home to the chain of hills in the Ghats.
The Centre made it clear to Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu that considering the importance of the Ghats and the recommendation of the K Kasturirangan-led high-level working group, no state would be exempt from the process of delineating ESAs. Officials of Gujarat government did not attend the meeting.
The minutes of the meeting, which took place in February, were made public a few days ago.
The Kasturirangan-led panel had recommended that an area of 56,825 sqkm should me demarcated as ESA to protect the fragile ecology and endemic flora and fauna of the Ghats. It also told states that fragmentation of the area to notify ESA in a state-wise manner is not feasible. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of CK Mishra, Secretary, Union Environment Ministry.
Karnataka was the most vocal against the ESA area recommended for the state. The state's senior forest officials informed that the state Cabinet was not in favour of the draft notification on the ESA in Ghats and had rejected it.
Maharashtra said that as against 17,340 sqkm ESA demarcated in the draft across 2,133 villages, the state-level committee formed to look into the issue retained 1,745 villages and removed 388 villages. It also added 347 villages and eventually recommended that an area of 15,359.49 sqkm be the ESA. Tamil Nadu recommended an area of 6,665.47 sqkm, while the expert panel had recommended an area of 6,914 sqkm.
The government's meeting with the states also happened in the backdrop of a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order passed on August 24, 2018. The government is bound by the order wherein the NGT has directed the Centre to finalise the notification declaring the full extent of ESAs in the Ghats along with the full list of villages falling in ESAs across the six states. It had also said that in view of the Kerala floods, no alterations would be allowed in the ESAs, as it would seriously impact the environment.
The government notified a draft notification on the Ghats for the first time in 2014. However, it has failed to form a consensus on the issue to finalise the notification and implement the regime of ESAs. Following the NGT's order, the government republished the draft notification for the fourth time.
Green Asset
The 1,600 km-long Western Ghats mountain chain is a UNESCO world heritage site as it is home to hundreds of endemic animals and plants. It is spread across the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, with an area of approximately 1,40,000 sqkm.
