Satellite survey of eco-sensitive zones in Kerala: Congress, farmers to launch joint protest against findings

Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA) chairman Alex Ozhukayil said this survey is not comprehensive. “Half of the houses and other structures in the region have been excluded from the survey. If this report is submitted in the Supreme Court, even thickly populated areas would come within the purview of the buffer zone. Then we are not going to get any exemptions. We want a ground survey to ascertain the extent of human life,” he said.

The Opposition Congress on Friday announced an agitation in Kozhikode next Tuesday, along with farmer outfits, against the findings of the survey.

Forest minister A K Saseendran said the call for agitation was “politically motivated” even as Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K Mani, an ally of the ruling LDF, said the farmers’ apprehensions regarding the survey were genuine.

“The satellite survey lacks clarity and several inhabited areas have gone missing from the survey. We have raised the concern with the state as well as the central governments. The worries of farmers cannot be neglected,” he said.

Saseendran told the media in Kozhikode on Friday that the satellite survey was conducted to comply with the apex court direction. “If the survey is incomplete, the expert committee headed by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, would examine the present findings. We are ready to conduct a field survey in all affected 115 panchayats. Farmers can submit their complaints about missed structures in the survey till December 23,” he said.

In June this year, the Supreme Court sought to establish 1-km ESZs around all protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. It directed states and Union Territories to prepare lists of subsisting structures within ESZs to understand the extent of human activity in such areas.

Following the court order, the Pinarayi Vijayan government engaged the Kerala Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC) to conduct satellite survey of 22 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in the state. The satellite survey report is meant to be presented before the apex court as well as the Central Empowered Committee.

In the wake of widespread protests by farmers, the CPI(M) government recently submitted a modification petition in the Supreme Court and decided to approach the empowered committee to get exemptions on the verdict.

The CPI(M) government had drawn much flak from farmers with regard to fixing the ESZs for protected forest tracts. Although the issue came to limelight with the June verdict of the Supreme Court, the previous LDF regime in 2019 had decided to recommend 1 km of area around boundaries of protected forests, including human settlements, as ESZs.

However, following protests by farmers, the Cabinet recently decided to rectify that 2019 decision in such a manner to exclude residential and agricultural areas as well as government, semi-government and public institutions from the ESZs.