PANAJI
The number of villages from Goa which could be declared eco-sensitive zones as part of the long pending proposal of the Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) for the fragile Western Ghats has risen to 108 from the earlier 99 in the latest draft-notification issued by the Central ministry days after the disaster in Wayanad.
The MoEF had re-issued the draft notification for the sixth time on July 31 after adverse reactions from the country's top ecologists in the immediate aftermath of the Wayanad disaster.
In the previous draft notification issued in November 2022, the MoEF had included 99 villages to be part of the contiguous ESZ corridor across five States -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa and Kerala -- the MoEF&CC had listed only 99 villages but this number has gone up to 108 in the July 31 draft-notification.
Interestingly, following the November 2022 draft-notification, the Goa government had formally written to the MoEFF to exclude at least two dozen villages mostly from Sattari.
