Eco-sensitive area tag: States propose to omit private lands

50 of 135 TN villages suggested by Kasturirangan allegedly left out

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA

THE final draft notification issued by the Union environment ministry on July 31 on declaration of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats shows that some of the states, including Tamil Nadu, have proposed to include more reserve forest areas in the ESA than ‘highly vulnerable' non-forest private land holdings as suggested by the Kasturirangan report. The plan by the state governments to leave private lands where extensive human settlements have come up over the years-off the hook may lead to change in land-use pattern in the already fragmented hilly regions in the future and may trigger more Wayanad-like disasters, some experts said.

Incidentally, the July 31 notification came just a day after the deadly Kerala landslides that left more than 400 people dead. Six states -Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra-covered under the notification have been dilly-dallying over the declaration of ecologically sensitive areas in the Western Ghats for the past 13 years.