PANAJI
The State government appointed committee has recommended dropping only 21 villages from the list of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) of the Western Ghats region.
State Environment Minister Alex Sequeira has left for Delhi with the representation, to be submitted to the Union Minister for Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) Bhupender Yadav.
The seven-member committee headed by Dr Devendra Pandey, former director general of the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, has proposed that 87 villages be categorised as ESA since they meet the criteria set out by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). The Centre, in its draft notification had proposed 108 villages from Goa as ESA.
Earlier, the State government had urged Centre to drop 47 villages from the list.
Sources informed that 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, 51 villages are from Sattari taluka, 23 villages from Sanguem, eight from Dharbandora, four from Canacona and one from Ponda.
Sources said that a total of 1,247 sq kms of area in Goa is proposed for categorization under ESA.
In July, the Union Ministry had issued a draft notification naming 108 Goa villages, instead of 99 villages, as the Western Ghats’ ESAs. Citing several issues, the State had written to the Centre, urging it to notify only 63 villages as ESAs.
In July 2022, the Union ministry issued a draft notification proposing that 99 Goa villages be declared as ESAs. In June 2024, the ministry admitted to the discrepancies between the plan and the draft notification of 99 villages and additional nine villages were included.
Raising its strong objection to inclusion of 99 villages under ESA, 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.
