New Delhi: Populating the way for the final notice of the environmental sensitive zone (ESZ) in the fragile western Ghats which includes six states, the center has decided to complete the consultation process with the upper state of their objections and concerns in mid-December.
Notifications, which forbid certain activities in Ghats, have been delayed for more than 10 years because countries have, so far, do not come to the top of the area intended under Esz despite facing severe impact of extreme weather events such as the new Kerala -baru and in August 2018.
“The consultation process is underway.
I will call the state’s last meeting after returning from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).
We will try to resolve all problems with consensus, maintaining concerns and interests of the local community in mind .
The process will be completed in the second week of December, “said Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav.
The state has a problem as far as the area will be included in ESZ because they think it will have an impact on economic activities and livelihoods of local communities.
As a result, there has been no consensus for several drafts issued by the Ministry of Environment, given the recommendations of the expert panel.
It is based that the ministry will notify ESZ after completing the consultation process.
Once notified, activities that pollute, deforestation and large construction projects will not be permitted in the zone intended from 56,825 kilometers in the Ghats, spread to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu.
Realizing how this activity has damaged Ghats, the Ministry in 2011 formed an expert panel under the ecologist Madhav Gadgil and then under the former Head of the Castation in 2012.
The second panel had submitted his report in 2013.
After that, his ministry, issued a draft for consultation in Esz Ghats Barat four times – March 10, 2014; September 4, 2015; February 27, 2017 and finally on October 3, 2018 – asked the state and other stakeholders to come out with their advice.
But countries have, so far, it doesn’t approve it.