KOLHAPUR: Of the 60,000 square km area of the Western Ghats that the Union environment ministry notified as ecologically sensitive on Wednesday, 17,000 sq km fall in Maharashtra covering 2,133 villages across 12 districts.

Raigad and Pune have the highest number of villages that will get the fragile zone tag, to protect them from any further mining, quarrying and high-polluting industries. Conspicuously missing from the list of protected zones, however, is a bunch of villages that have been ironically getting funds from the planning commission under the 'Western Ghat Development Programme' for 40 years now. There are 12 villages from Sangli, 8 from Kolhapur and 6 from Satara excluded from the latest ESA list, published by MoEF.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) issued a notification on November 13 declaring 37% of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive area (ESA) with immediate effect. The notification lists 2,133 villages in Maharashtra, but the Kasturirangan committee had mentioned an additional 26 villages in its report that it had submitted to the MoEF in April this year, which do not figure in the notification issued on Wednesday.

In its notification, the MoEF has listed 356 villages in Raigad and 337 villages from nine talukas of Pune as ESAs. In Kolhapur district, 184 villages from seven talukas will now be 'no red industry' zones. The notification has put a ban on sand mining, thermal power plants, construction projects of 20,000 sq m area and above, township and area development projects with an area of 50 hectare and above and-or with built up area of 1, 50,000 sq m and above and red category of industries.

The notification which came into force with immediate effect, has warned of appropriate legal action under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 if the norms are violated.

The notification asked the states to follow a "non-tolerance" policy towards "highly interventionist and environmentally damaging activities", as Western Ghats has been under unprecedented threats due to mining and urbanization.