Western Ghats: States’ submission on ESAs to Centre’s committee based on old surveys

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu carried out the surveys between 2013 and 2018 to physically verify the extent of villages declared as ESA by Centre in a draft notification based on the K Kasturirangan panel’s report.

“Everyone has presented their region specific implementation problems and hurdles. Some have sought exclusion only, some have sought exclusion and inclusion of ESAs. The submissions are largely based on the past ground surveys,” a source, aware of developments, said.

It is learnt that the expert panel is being assisted by the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun to verify the green cover and extent of villages marked as ESA and weed out survey errors.

A Goa government official confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the statewide physical verification surveys carried out in the past to demarcate ESAs in the state were at the heart of the submissions made to the Centre’s expert panel. “The surveys in the past had shown overlaps, spelling mistakes and gaps with regards to the villages demarcated as ESAs based on the Kasturirangan report. We have reconciled these gaps and sent them to the panel,” the official said.

It is learnt that most states, except Gujarat — where the spread of ESA proposed (449 sq km) is the smallest — have sought reductions in the area under ESA. There has been negligible headway made with Karnataka as they have rejected implementation of the Kasturirangan panel’s recommendations.

For Kerala, where the devastating Wayanad landslides has brought the focus back on the long-standing opposition to ESAs for Western Ghats protection, the committee has sought more information from them, sources said.

In 2014, the Centre had issued the first draft notification declaring 56,825 sq km as ESA based on the Kasturirangan report, which was opposed by most states, demanding that ground verification exercises be carried out.

The old ground truthing reports and the minutes of meetings between Centre and states show that Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had sought dilutions in the ESAs.

Maharashtra, for instance, had sought to exclude 388 villages from ESA protection and add 347 villages. They sought exclusion of villages as they fell in existing industrial zones, mining areas or were essential for development. The state had proposed to reduce the proposed ESA area from 17,340 sq km to 15,359.49 sq km.

In 2013, Kerala had formed a three-member expert panel to physically verify the ESAs and had reduced the ESAs in the state from 13,108.7 sq km to 9,993.7 sq km. This conclusion was also added to the first draft notification on Western Ghats.

However, the state later sought to reduce the ESA area further to 8,656.46 sq km on grounds such as bifurcation of villages and discrepancies in maps. The state had proposed to restrict the ESA area only to reserve forests, protected areas and world heritage areas.