Exclude areas in proposed ESZ: Keralam minister Sunny Joseph to Centre

Kerala has sought the exclusion of residential areas, agricultural land and plantations from the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) in the Western Ghats, with Environment Minister Sunny Joseph saying the state wants the area covered by the draft notification reduced from 9,993.7 sq km across 123 villages to 8,590.69 sq km across 98 villages.

The minister said the state sent its communication to the Union government on Thursday, outlining its concerns and suggestions on the latest draft notification published in July this year.

“Out of the proposed 9993.7 sq km of ESZ, 9107 sq km is forest land and the remaining 886.7 sq km being non-forest land. If the non-forest area is kept out of the proposed ESZ, Keralam’s concerns will be alleviated. Currently, there are fears among people living in villages that are proposed as ESZ in the draft notification. They have submitted numerous complaints and memorandums to the government,” Joseph told reporters at a press briefing.

Joseph said the state government had earlier relayed its concerns about ESZ to the expert committee constituted by the Union government.

“We had told the committee that our state is small with a highly dense population. Forest cover is 29.15 % of the state’s total land area. There are 23 wildlife sanctuaries and protected areas. We enforce strict rules in our forests with stringent restrictions on tree cutting. So we told the committee that imposing ESZ norms with separate rules in residential areas will hamper the state’s development, particularly agriculture production,” the minister said.

The minister said the Union government has published seven draft notifications since 2014 on the ESZ in the Western Ghats. “A final notification should now be issued by incorporating Keralam’s requests,” he said.

He said the government will ponder passing a unanimous resolution on the ESZ issue when the Assembly reconvenes in October.