Nudged by the Delhi High Court and the Central Information Commission, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has finally made public the Gadgil panel report on ecology in the Western Ghats, but with a disclaimer.
The report, which was uploaded on the Ministry’s site on May 23, says: “The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report has not been formally accepted by the Ministry and that the report is still being analysed and considered by the Ministry.’’
The report was submitted to the Ministry in August 2011. Public comments have been invited within 45 days.
Recently, the court had dismissed the Ministry’ plea against making the report public, saying that this would impede the decision-making process.
In its report, the expert panel has asked the MoEF to take immediate steps to address the issue of a “serious deficit in environmental governance’’ all over the Western Ghats tract.
It has called for an indefinite moratorium on environmental clearances for new mining and coal-based power projects in sensitive zones.
Ecologically Sensitive Area
The panel has designated the entire Western Ghats, spanning over six states, 44 districts and 142 talukas, as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) and assigned it three levels of sensitivity.
Based on this categorisation, it has recommended that both the Athirappilly project in Kerala and the Gundia hydel project in Karnataka should not be provided environmental clearance, as they fall in the Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1 (ESZ1).
For Goa, the panel has recommended an indefinite moratorium on new environmental clearances for mining in ESZ1 and ESZ2, and a phasing out of mining in ESZ3 by 2016. It said existing mining in ESZ2 should be done under strict regulation with an effective system of social audit.
Similar recommendations have been made for power projects and mining in the portions of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra that fall in the Western Ghats.
The panel’s recommendations, if accepted, may affect private and public sector power majors that have planned projects in the area.