The Environment Ministry, following the 'in principle' acceptance of the Kasturirangan committee report, issued a fresh order on Friday, easing norms on activities related to plantations and agriculture in Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA). The order sought to assure protestors in Kerala that their day-to-day life will not be affected even if they live in ESAs.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF)'s order dated December 20, clarified that the recommendations made by the Kasturirangan led High-Level Working Group (HLWG) "neither put any fresh restrictions on land use in the ESA nor do they in any way impact the continued occupation of land in possession of the local people and affect their day to day activities or normal livelihood".
Withdrawing the November 16 order on the Kasturirangan report's implementation, the new order also clarifies that there is no restriction of "any normal activities relating to plantations, agriculture" and so on.
The HLWG report however maintains the bans on mining, quarrying, sand mining, thermal power plants, building and construction projects on areas that are 20,000 sq m or more, township and area development projects with an area of 50ha and above and red category of industries in ESA. The HLWG defines 37 per cent of the Western Ghats landscape as ecologically sensitive.
The Kasturirangan panel's report has come under fire in Kerala. Legislators from Western Ghats region have been demanding that inhabited and populated areas in ESAs as defined by the report be exempted from the conservation regime proposed.
The new order says that the boundary of the ESA and the regulatory regime — an emotive issue in some of the affected states — would be finalised after the draft notification for the same is placed in the public domain and comments on it from all stakeholders including state governments are received.
