The Goa Government has taken a few objections to the Gadgil Committee’s report on the Western Ghats, even as it agreed to implement most recommendations.
“Some of the recommendations are extreme, considering the small size of the State,” Alina Saldanha, Environment and Forests Minister told PTI.
Among other things, Goa has taken exception to the committee’s recommendation to ban development activity in certain areas, to be reserved as Exclusive Environment Zones.
“If we go on conserving the area as eco-sensitive, then there won’t be much land left for development,” Saldanha said, adding that Goa had limited land-mass.
The Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel, headed by the National Advisory Council member and ecologist Madhav Gadgil, submitted its report a year ago. The Goa Government then formed a committee to study the report.
Saldanha said the State Government was yet to receive the report of the K. Kasturirangan Committee (formed by the Centre) which examined the Gadgil report, but “there are a lot of things in (Gadgil) report that we have accepted”.