Regardless of 5 draft notifications by the Centre since March 2014, the states – initially Kerala however later primarily Karnataka – are nonetheless not on board for last notification leaving ecologically delicate areas unprotected.
It’s learnt that yet one more draft notification, the sixth one, is predicted to be issued in a day or two because the validity of the fifth notification expired a month in the past. The draft will give one more likelihood to work in direction of constructing consensus that has eluded the area for the final 10 years.
The whole Western Ghats, unfold over six states together with Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, is the second most landslide-prone area of the nation after Himalayas. Although Maharashtra and Goa sought a discount within the extent of ESA throughout the respective states for permitting growth works, the then govt in Karnataka urged the Centre in 2022 to withdraw the draft arguing that it could adversely have an effect on the livelihood of the folks within the state.
Absence of ESA cowl to Western Ghats, in the meantime, resulted in continuation of a number of environmentally-hazardous human actions, together with large deforestation for mining and development over time, resulting in loosening of soil and affecting hillside stability – the primary motive of landslides throughout extraordinarily heavy rainfall like those that struck Kerala.
