File photo: Western Ghats
The government today junked the report on Western Ghats by environmentalist Madhav Gadgil and said it instead prefers the Kasturirangan Committee's report.
In an affidavit filed before the National Green Tribunal, the Ministry of Environment and Forests or MoEF submitted that it is examining the recommendations of the K Kasturirangan-led panel and will not process the Gadgil report for further action.
A bench, headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, directed the counsel appearing for the Ministry to seek instructions from MoEF and file an appropriate response about this on September 9.
"It has been stated that the Ministry does not wish to process the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) Report, that is the Gadgil Report, and would take subsequent actions only in relation to the High-Level Working Group Report, that is Dr Kasturirangan's Report," the bench said.
The Tribunal was hearing a plea by two NGOs -- Goa Foundation and Peaceful Society -- which had sought to restrain the authorities from granting their approval for new projects in the region.
The Gadgil panel in its report to the MoEF dated August 31, 2011 had designated the entire Western Ghats as an ecologically- sensitive area and divided the whole region in three categories according to their ecological sensitivities.
The WGEEP had in its report recommended that no mining should be allowed in the Western Ghats in Goa.
For mining activities in other areas in two categories, the WGEEP had recommended that no new licenses should to be given and current mining activities should be phased out in five years by 2016.
The committee had also recommended that no new polluting industry should be allowed in the regions of the first two categories and non-polluting industries may be allowed with strict regulation and social audit.
The 10-member high-level working group, headed by Mr Kasturirangan, constituted to examine the Western Ghats' ecology, had recommended prohibition on development activities in 60,000 sq km ecologically sensitive area spread over six states.
The NGOs have sought an interim order seeking directions that no fresh clearances be granted to projects in the two categories.
Terming the Western Ghats as "hotspots of biodiversity", the petition had stated that the region harbours the largest global population of the Asian Elephant, besides other mammals such as tiger.