The State government is set to impress upon the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to declare “area falling within a minimum of 1 km and an upper limit of 8 km of the boundary of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as eco-sensitive zones (ESZs)” in view of varied problems being faced “in terms of development”.
The Cabinet Sub-Committee is also planning to appeal to MoEF to allow Karnataka to demarcate ESZs based on habitats and forest and mining wealth, instead of having a specific parameter for all national parks and sanctuaries, an official explained.
Residents of areas in Western Ghats coming under the purview of the proposed ESZ plan of the MoEF had come out strongly against the plan, their main fear being displacement. The K. Kasturirangan panel had come out with the recommendations on conserving Western Ghats.
According to sources in the Department of Forests, the Cabinet Sub-Committee, headed by Minister for Forests B. Ramanath Rai, resolved to appeal to the MoEF on reducing the ESZ limit between 1 km and 8 km. Forest officials who conducted public hearings in and around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries recently sent their reports to the committee.
“The draft proposal has already been finalised and the same will be presented at the next Cabinet meeting for approval,” a senior official in the department told The Hindu .
‘Difficult to take up work’Accepting the MoEF guideline of 10 km will render it difficult to take up development work and exploit mineral and forest resources. It will also force the department to evict local communities, who have been living in the area for centuries, the official added.
Political parties cutting across party lines, farmers’ organisations, and residents of areas coming under the proposed plan had opposed the MoEF guidelines tooth and nail.
The motive behind declaring ESZ is to create a kind of “cushion” for protected areas in addition to reducing man-animal conflict.
