Lok Sabha Question No. 61 (STARRED), answered on 2018-12-14
Subject: Eco Sensitive Area
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: ASADUDDIN OWAISI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION N0. 61

TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.12.2018

## Eco Sensitive Area

## *61.    SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  process  for  earmarking  Eco  Sensitive  Zone  (ESZ)  started  in  the  year 2011  and  the  Union  Government  issued  the  first  draft  notification  in  2014for earmarking Eco Sensitive Area of the Western Ghats, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether since then the Government has issued fresh notifications in this regard and issued the fourth one recently to bring the concerned States on board;
- (c) if so, the details thereof along with the main demand of the individual States; and
- (d) whether even a high level working group had failed to bring a unanimous decision in this regard and if so, the further steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARAS (A) to (D) OF LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  61  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  14.12.2018  REGARDING 'ECO SENSITIVE AREA' BY SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI :

(a) An  intensive  process  for  conservation  and  protection  of  unique  biodiversity  of Western Ghats was started in the year 2010 with the setting up of Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) followed by the constitution of High Level Working Group (HLWG) in the year 2012.   The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) had, in principle, accepted the High Level Working Group report in November, 2013. Accordingly, Ministry issued first draft notification vide S.O. 733 (E) dated 10.02.2014, with an  Ecologically  Sensitive  Area  (ESA)  of  56,825  square  kilometres,  in  the  States  of  Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

(b) &(c) The draft Notification S.O. 733 (E) dated 10.02.2014 was subsequently republished thrice, i.e. vide S.O. 2435 (E) dated 04.09.2015; S.O. 667 (E) dated 27.02.2017 and S.O. 5135 (E)  dated  03.10.2018.    After  republishing  the  draft  Notification,  this  Ministry  had  issued letters  seeking  views  /comments  of  the  state  Governments  of  Gujarat,  Karnataka,  Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa. Over the years, the concerned State Governments have undertaken  physical  verification  and  proposed  to  alter  the  ESA  of  their  States,  from  the original recommendations of High Level Working Group.  In order to follow a coherent and consistent approach in notifying the Western Ghats ESA, Ministry had interactions with all the States of Western Ghats region at various levels on 15 th January 2016; 9 th to 11 th February 2016; 11 th August,2016 and 11 th April 2018.The main demand of the States is to reduce the ESA area, which is a deviation from the recommendations of HLWG. As a result, the draft Notifications  were  not  finalised,  and  to  continue  the  process,  Ministry  had  republished  the fresh draft Notification fourth time on 3 rd October, 2018.

(d)    The  recommendations  of  HLWGare  for  maintaining  balance  in  development  and environment protection in the Ecologically  Sensitive Areas of  Western  Ghats region.   The HLWG  also  recommended  that  the  activities  which  have  maximum  interventionist  and destructive  impacts  on  natural  ecosystems  should  not  be  permitted  in  the  Ecologically Sensitive Areas of the  Western Ghats, namely  (i) Mining, quarrying and sand mining (ii) Thermal  Power  Plants  (iii)  Building  and  construction  projects  of  20,000  sq.  m.  area  and above (iv) Township and area development projects with an area of 50 ha and above and/or with built up area of 1,50,000 sq. m. and above   (v) Red category of industries. Accordingly, MoEFCChad  issued directions under Section 5 of Environment(Protection) Act, 1986  for conservation and protection of ESA  of Western Ghats.The recommendations have emphasised urgent need for conservation of the biologically rich biodiversity and the natural landscape  of  the  Western  Ghats.    Ministry  is  willing  to  finalise  the  ESA  notification  in consultation with all the States of the Western Ghats region.

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