A two-member team of officials from the regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in Bangalore will carry out a field visit in Kerala as part of the physical verification of the ESA (Ecologically Sensitive Area) maps submitted by the State.
The team comprising Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Amarnath Shetty and Director of MoEF S.K. Susurla arrived here on Friday for a preliminary discussion.
The visit assumes significance in the light of the fact that the Central government is yet to decide between the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil and K. Kasturirangan committees on the conservation of the Western Ghats.
During the discussions, the MoEF team is understood to have expressed concern over the fragmentation of ESAs in Kerala following the exclusion of human settlements, plantations, and agricultural land. The officials also met Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.
Addressing the media, the Minister said the government would provide all assistance to the MoEF for physical verification of the ESA villages. “The State government is of the view that settlements and farmland should be excluded from the ESA. We have conveyed this to the Centre,” he said.
The MoEF had earlier written to the State government seeking a ‘random sampling ground truthing’ of the ESA maps submitted by Kerala.
The cadastral level maps were prepared by the State government following a draft notification issued by MoEF in March redefining the territorial extent of the ESAs in Kerala.
Earlier, the Kasturirangan committee had earmarked 13,108 sq km across 123 villages in Kerala as ESA. Following protests, the State government had proposed the exclusion of 3,117 sq km from the ESAs.
