The mammoth exercise of field verification of the map of the Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) undertaken across the State would end up as a futile exercise as the State government has already fulfilled the two criteria put forth by the Supreme Court for dilution of ESZ norms. The State has already completed the satellite survey of the buffer zone and moved the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change six months ago for excluding the human habitations from the purview of ESZ.
Rajesh Kumar Sinha, the then Principal Secretary (Forest), had written to the CEC and the Ministry on June 25 last year seeking to approve the proposals marking the ESZ as zero in human habitations. In his letter, the official had requested the Ministry to forward the proposals to the apex court “for getting dilution in the minimum width of the ESZ in view of overwhelming public interest.”
‘In public interest’
The Supreme Court, which proposed a uniform ESZ of one kilometre from the forest boundaries in its June 3 order, had suggested that the States could seek relaxation in ESZ in the overwhelming public interest. The court had also indicated that the CEC and the Ministry shall consider the requests from the States and submit them to the court along with their recommendations, pointed out sources.
The State was forced to organise field verification of the map prepared by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre following the widespread complaints from those living in areas close to protected forests. Though the map would be sufficient to be presented in the apex court, the State could use the data from field verification to allay the fears of the general public and to substantiate its claim for excluding those areas from the ESZ, sources hinted.
24,000 complaints
Meanwhile, the State Forest secretary has so far received over 24,000 complaints regarding the ESZ. While most of the complaints argued against the demarcation, around 9,000 complaints highlighted either the wrongful inclusion or exclusion of holdings in the zone. Help desks were constituted in around 80 villages to look into the complaints, sources indicated.
