PANAJI
The State government on Tuesday urged the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to exclude 21 villages from the category of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) of the Western Ghats region.
Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira along with Chief Secretary IAS Puneet Kumar Goel submitted the proposal to the Union Ministry recommending inclusion of 87 villages under ESA since they meet the criteria set out by the Ministry.
The proposal was based on the findings and recommendation made by the seven-member committee headed by Dr Devendra Pandey, former director general of the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun.
In July, the Union Ministry had issued a draft notification naming 108 Goa villages, instead of 99 villages, as the Western Ghats’ ESAs. The Ministry admitted to the discrepancies between the plan and draft notification and added nine villages to the list.
As reported earlier, the committee has recommended dropping 21 villages that includes 12 from Sattari, five from Dharbandora, three from Sanguem and one from Canacona taluka.
Of the total 87 villages proposed under ESA categories include 51 villages from Sattari taluka, 23 villages from Sanguem, eight from Dharbandora, four from Canacona and one from Ponda.
A total of 1,247 sq kms of area in Goa is proposed for categorization under ESA.
In its objection, the State had pointed out that out of Goa’s total geographical area of 3,702sq km, it is hardly left with 342 sq km area (only 9.25%), which can be made use of for growth and development while the rest comprises forest area, CRZ, agricultural land and green cover.
