The State has recommended to the Centre to delete 300 sq km area from its proposed eco-sensitive area map of the Western Ghats as per the Kasthurirangan report so that human settlements are not affected.
As the Centre is set to publish its second draft notification of the map, Forest Minister B. Ramanath Rai told reporters that the State wanted to keep just about 20,300 sq km under the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) limit.
“We have deleted residential areas from ESZ besides adding forest areas,” he said. This means that ESZ will be mostly confined to forest areas, if the recommendation is accepted. He made it clear that the State’s recommendation was not binding on the Centre. But Karnataka could file an objection to the draft notification if it was not satisfied, Mr. Rai said.
