Gadgil report,heritage tag not linked,says MoEF

Ministry officials have said that the government would decide on accepting the report only after considering the replies from all the six states in the Western Ghats. “The heritage tag and the WGEEP report are two separate issues. As part of the heritage status,we are required to file conservation reports of the 39 sites to the UNESCO every year and such conservation measures will be as per the existing laws,” said a ministry official.

Kerala has objected to the WGEEP’s recommendations of three-tier categorisation of ecologically sensitive zones. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday and told him that the recommendations of the WGEEP were “impracticable” and “detrimental” to the interests of the state. He wanted the Centre to junk the proposal to set up the Western Ghats Ecology Authority and allow the state to take “appropriate conservation measures” on its own. Chandy made it clear that the state cannot accept the panel’s recommendation for zonation of the Ghats. The tentative recommendations,he argued,would make development or human activities unable in certain areas where the width of the land is less. He pointed out that land areas next to the Ghats which do not directly influence the ecology or environment of the Ghats need not be put under “strenuous” regulations.

Karnataka sent an interim reply last year and a final reply is awaited while Tamil Nadu has not yet replied. Goa and Maharashtra have indicated that they are not in favour of the recommendations,which seek to scrap mining in many areas,decommission old dams,scrap plans to build new hill stations and so on.