Eight UDF MLAs have written to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanti Natarajan urging her to reject impractical recommendations in the Gadgil Committee report and allay the fears of the people regarding it.
The committee’s recommendations should be implemented without fail to protect the Western Ghats, but they should not hinder the lives of people living in these regions or the development of the state, they said.
The ‘Green MLAs’ of the UDF V D Satheesan, T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, M V Sreyams Kumar, K M Shaji and V T Balram and C P Mohammed and Palode Ravi wrote the letter.
According to the MLAs, people were concerned due to the faulty zonation in the Gadgil Committee Report declaring inhabited areas as ecologically fragile.
Farmers and the general public in Wayanad and Idukki are especially worried over the fact that these two districts were almost entirely included in Zone 1 (which lists the the most Ecologically Sensitive Zones).
This has given rise to fears that fresh pattayams would not be issued in these regions, and would put a stop to development. These issues have to be cleared leaving no room for doubts, the MLAs said