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In a revised proposal sent to the Centre earlier this month, the Kerala government requested the declaration of 8,590.69 sq km across 98 villages and 12 districts as ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) in the Western Ghats. The area proposed for ESA demarcation is 121 sq km smaller than what was submitted to the Centre in May this year.
Protection of fragile villages across the state’s Western Ghats area has been under the spotlight following the July 30 landslides and mudslides in Wayanad district’s Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Vellarimala, which killed over 400 people. The state’s draft proposal on ESAs sent in May included 12 villages from Wayanad district, including Vellarimala.
“The Government of Kerala has submitted revised proposal on 02.11.2024, requesting for declaring 8590.69 sq km area in 98 villages spread across 29 talukas in 12 districts as Ecologically Sensitive Area based on the verification of the suggestions received from the Local Self Government Department,” Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav informed Lok Sabha in a written statement on Monday. The minister was responding to a question by V K Sreekandan, MP from Palakkad in Kerala, on the declaration of ESAs in Kerala.
An expert committee of the Centre, headed by Sanjay Kumar, former Director General of Forest, is appraising state government proposals and suggestions regarding ESA demarcation in Western Ghats.
The Centre issued a sixth iteration of the draft notification on the Western Ghats in July, demarcating 56,825 sq km as ESA across Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The villages marked as ESA will see a complete ban on mining, quarrying, highly polluting industries, and new thermal power plants. This draft notification was based on the report of a high-level working group headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan.
After the sixth iteration of the Western Ghats draft notification was published, the Centre allowed states 60 days to submit objections and suggestions. The expert committee has been taking up the proposals and suggestions of different state governments. A reliable source said the committee is likely to visit Goa on Tuesday to deliberate on the state’s submissions on the ESA issue. Of the 108 villages demarcated as ESA in Goa, the state government has sought the exclusion of 21 villages, all of them from Sattari taluka in North Goa.
In 2013, Kerala proposed demarcating 9,993.7 sq km as ESAs based on the report of a three-member expert panel. Later, in 2019, it submitted to the environment ministry that it should be reduced to 8,656 sq km. However, the latest draft notification continued with the previous iterations and marked the 9.993.7 sq km area as eco-sensitive.
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