PANAJI
The Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)-appointed expert committee to examine the views and objections of the State governments on Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Areas (ESA) will be on four-day visit to Goa from November 26, for ground verification on the State’s submission.
The Goa government in its submission before the Union Ministry has proposed dropping 21 villages from the ESA list, based on the report submitted by the State appointed seven-member committee headed by Dr Devendra Pandey, former director general of Forest Survey of India. The committee has proposed 87 villages be categorised as ESA since they meet the criteria set out by the Ministry.
The Centre, in its draft notification, issued in August, had proposed 108 villages from Goa as ESA as against the earlier list of 99 villages.
Sources informed that the team will be arriving in Goa on November 26 evening and will leave on November 29. The team will be visiting few villages that are proposed for exclusion from ESA apart from holding meetings with the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira, Secretary Environment and others.
The committee, which is headed by Sanjay Kumar, former director-general of forest, will verify along with the state government whether its demands to omit villages marked as ESA are justified.
During State submission, the ESA committee raised certain questions and hence the Environment Minister recommended that they visit the State and those villages.
As per government proposal, 21 villages include 12 from Sattari, five from Dharbandora, three from Sanguem and one from Canacona taluka.
Of the total 87 villages proposed under ESA categories, 51 villages are 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 categorisation under ESA. Once finalised, villages marked as ESA will see a complete ban on mining, quarrying and sand mining as well as phasing out of existing mines in five years.
