BENGALURU: The state government has expressed its displeasure on the draft notification of the eco-sensitive area (ESA) of Western Ghats released by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) on July 27.
Officials in the environment and forest departments said the government is preparing to discuss the objections during the Cabinet sessions and raise its objections before the Central government against the areas declared as ESA in Karnataka.
“Earlier, too, the Cabinet had expressed its displeasure on the Centre’s proposal and raised objections. But the Centre ignored them. The Centre also ignored the suggestions made at the village level without conducting a detailed survey. Now a fresh list of villages to be excluded, along with the objections, will be sent to the Union government,” a government official said.
Sources in the environment and forest departments said the objections were because Karnataka has the largest area being declared as ESA in the report – compared to others, the state accounts for the largest segment of Western Ghats.
According to the seventh notification, 20,668sqkm of the total 56,825.7sqkm has been declared as ESA. The six states housing Western Ghats include Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. A total of 1,449 villages in Karnataka fall under the ESA, according to the notification.
Officials in the department said that so far there was no clear demarcation and declaration of the ESA region in Karnataka. Earlier, in the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports, the demarcation was said to be based on the villages and the non-forestry activities undertaken in the regions. The current notification gives all stakeholders and others a two months time to file their objections, which they will utilise.