‘Review panel premature,meaningless without people’s inputs’

“People’s participation is important and there should be inputs from the actual stakeholders. I am not sure how another committee would help and what kind of recommendations they would make.”

“Moreover,a ‘holistic’ approach or any other approach to the matter should be people-centric. Recommendations can be made after inviting suggestions and objections,” said Gadgil.

He added that he was “peeved” over the government sitting on his report for a year. “The government had woken up late and now,suddenly they have thought of appointing another committee to review the panel report without taking any inputs from the people.

Earlier, with opposition from some state governments,there was hardly any progress on whether the report should be made public or not. Finally,it was made public but there should be a wider reach,” said Gadgil.

The Gadgil panel had termed Western Ghats an extremely ecologically sensitive region and favoured restricted mining and other development activities,which was opposed by several state governments,including Kerala. As per the MoEF website,the high-level working group to be headed by space scientist and planning commission member K Kasturirangan is set to take a holistic approach of the Gadgil panel report.

According to the ministry,the nine-member group will examine the report keeping in view the comments received from the state governments concerned,central ministries and all stakeholders.

The members will study the implications of centre-state relations with regard to conservation and sustainable development of the Western Ghats

The panel is set to examine important aspects,such as preservation of precious biodiversity,needs and aspirations of the local and indigenous people,sustainable development and environmental integrity of the region,climate change and constitutional implications of centre-state relations.