Thiruvananthapuram: The three-member expert committee (EC) led by Biodiversity Board chairman Prof Oommen V Oommen, reiterating the stand of the state government, has recommended that habitations, agricultural lands and plantations should be taken out of the ecologically sensitive areas identified by the Kasturirangan panel.
However, the EC has suggested that forests, groves, grasslands, outcroppings and denuded hills in villages not included in the Kasturirangan report should be identified and marked as ESA.
The report of the EC, which was constituted on October 23, has virtually become redundant after the MoEF asked the states to rework the ESAs in December. On December 21, the State Government had formed five-member panchayat-level committees to rework the ecologically sensitive areas defined by the Kasturirangan report.
The committees have already begun spot verification; the process of identifying and separating habitations, agricultural lands and plantations in the 123 villages identified as ESA by the Kasturirangan panel.
The committees have been asked to complete their spot verification before January 10 and submit their reports by January 13. The committees, headed by the panchayat president, will have as its members the village officer, agriculture officer and forest officer of the area concerned.
In spite of its superfluous nature, the State Government could implement some of the recommendations made by the EC. The EC wants the Ecologically Fragile Lands Act scrapped. “The EFL Act has already achieved its objectives,” the EC report states. The report, however, said that the courts would decide on the innumerable EFL-related cases under their consideration.
The EC has asked the government to issue an order stating that the ban on mono-crops would not affect rubber, coffee or tea cultivation. “A government-level decision should be taken saying that no permission was required to cut trees not just in the Western Ghats area but also in private lands in other parts of the state,” the EC report states. It also wants the height of resorts constructed on cardamom and pepper farms situated 500 metres above sea level should be fixed as eight metres.
