In a revised proposal despatched to the Centre earlier this month, the Kerala authorities requested the declaration of 8,590.69 sq km throughout 98 villages and 12 districts as ecologically delicate areas (ESAs) within the Western Ghats. The realm proposed for ESA demarcation is 121 sq km smaller than what was submitted to the Centre in Could this 12 months.
Safety of fragile villages throughout the state’s Western Ghats space has been underneath the highlight following the July 30 landslides and mudslides in Wayanad district’s Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Vellarimala, which killed over 400 individuals. The state’s draft proposal on ESAs despatched in Could included 12 villages from Wayanad district, together with Vellarimala.
“The Authorities of Kerala has submitted revised proposal on 02.11.2024, requesting for declaring 8590.69 sq km space in 98 villages unfold throughout 29 talukas in 12 districts as Ecologically Delicate Space primarily based on the verification of the options acquired from the Native Self Authorities Division,” Union Setting Minister Bhupender Yadav knowledgeable Lok Sabha in a written assertion on Monday. The minister was responding to a query by V Okay Sreekandan, MP from Palakkad in Kerala, on the declaration of ESAs in Kerala.
An professional committee of the Centre, headed by Sanjay Kumar, former Director Common of Forest, is appraising state authorities proposals and options relating to ESA demarcation in Western Ghats.
The Centre issued a sixth iteration of the draft notification on the Western Ghats in July, demarcating 56,825 sq km as ESA throughout Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The villages marked as ESA will see a whole ban on mining, quarrying, extremely polluting industries, and new thermal energy vegetation. This draft notification was primarily based on the report of a high-level working group headed by house scientist Okay Kasturirangan.
After the sixth iteration of the Western Ghats draft notification was revealed, the Centre allowed states 60 days to submit objections and options. The professional committee has been taking on the proposals and options of various state governments. A dependable supply stated the committee is prone to go to Goa on Tuesday to deliberate on the state’s submissions on the ESA problem. Of the 108 villages demarcated as ESA in Goa, the state authorities has sought the exclusion of 21 villages, all of them from Sattari taluka in North Goa.
In 2013, Kerala proposed demarcating 9,993.7 sq km as ESAs primarily based on the report of a three-member professional panel. Later, in 2019, it submitted to the setting ministry that it must be decreased to eight,656 sq km. Nonetheless, the newest draft notification continued with the earlier iterations and marked the 9.993.7 sq km space as eco-sensitive.
