The Centre has notified 17,340 sq km of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra as ecologically sensitive area (ESA). The stretch is part of the 56,825 sq km spread over six states —Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The gazette notification was issued on September 4.

The notification comes nearly four years after the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel recommended that the entire Western Ghats be declared as ESA since it is a bio-diversity hotspot. Thereafter, the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) constituted the K Kasturirangan High Level Working Group (HLWG) to take a relook at the entire issue. The HLWG recommended that 37% of the Western Ghats, which constitute 60,000 sq km, be declared as ESA. But only 56,825 sq km has been declared as ESA............Read more

Source web page: Times of India