Kerala landslide: Govt issues eco-sensitive zone notification along Western Ghats
The draft has been issued in response to the devastating landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad that have left over 250 dead, over hundreds injured, and dozens missing
New Delhi: The ministry of environment, forest and climate change of India (MoEFCC) has issued a fifth draft notification on the Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area, which is similar to the draft notification that was issued on July 6, 2022, and which expired in June this year.
This comes 13 years since the first such demarcation was recommended by a panel led by eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgil in 2011.
The draft has been issued in response to the devastating landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad that have left over 250 dead, over hundreds injured, and dozens missing.
Parts of Vythiri in Kerala’s Wayanad also figure in MoEFCC’s draft eco-sensitive area. It is now up to the Western Ghats state governments—Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu—to accept or reject it.
If finalised, there will be a complete ban on mining, quarrying, and sand mining; thermal power plants; polluting industries; all new and expansion projects of building and construction with a built-up area of 20,000 square metres and above, and all new and expansion townships and area development projects with an area of 50 hectares and above or with a built-up area of 150,000 square metres and above shall be prohibited, among other restrictions.
The draft notification states that Kerala had earlier undertaken the exercise of demarcating ecologically sensitive areas in the state by physical verification.
The ecologically sensitive area recommended by the Kerala government is spread over an area of 9,993.7 square kilometers, which includes 9,107 square kilometers of forest area and 886.7 square kilometers of non-forest area, compared to the 13,108 square kilometers recommended by the high-level working group. The same area was also specified in the 2022 notification.
The notification states that Western Ghats state governments had various objections to the previous draft. The central government convened a meeting with concerned state government representatives in the ministry on April 11, 2018, and decided that the draft notification dated 27 February 2017 would be the basis for further discussion, and accordingly, the draft notification dated 3 October 2018 was issued for stakeholder consultation.
The Centre convened meetings with concerned state government representatives to discuss the draft at various forums and at the highest level on 15 February, 2019; 21 May, 2020; 23 November, 2021; and on 3-4 December, 2021, wherein various objections, comments, and suggestions were received from the draft notification dated 3 October, 2018.
In order to address the issues raised by the state governments, MoEFCC constituted a committee via O.M. dated April 18, 2022, to “reexamine the suggestions of the six state governments in a holistic manner, keeping in view the conservation aspects of the disaster-prone pristine ecosystem and the rights, privileges, needs, and developmental aspirations of the region,” the draft states.
The Committee observed that the time given for submission of the report is inadequate in view of the complexity of the task, and consequently the draft notification dated October 3, 2018.
The central government and expert committee held meetings with the Western Ghats states to discuss the 5th draft notification at various forums on 11 July 2022; 30 August 2022; 17-19 January 2023; 17-19 May 2023; 1-6 June 2023; 18-19 July 2023; 16-20 August 2023; 14-17 October 2023; and 26-28 March 2024, wherein various objections, comments, and suggestions were received from the states, the draft adds.