Western ghats ESA notification: Panel to finalise the draft soon for three states

The aftermath of devastating landslides in Wayanad in Kerala which killed hundreds of people, have reminded the centre once again to discuss and finalise on how much Western Ghats should be declared as an eco-sensitive areas (ESA).

The Union government has re-issued — for the sixth time in a decade — a draft notification classifying parts of the Western Ghats in six States as ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs).

This would impose restrictions on economic activities such as quarrying, mining, and large infrastructural development in these areas.

According to the concerned officials the centre’s expert panel on the western ghats is in advanced discussions on the extent of ESAs to be finalised for three states – Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa.

Submissions have been made by these three states.

The panel may recommend separate notifications for these three states if the agreement is reached soon, likely by end of August.

“We are not going to wait for consensus from all six states. States like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa have its information broadly in place and it does not have too many discrepancies. We have sought more information from the remaining three states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Despite its six iterations, however, the draft notification is yet to become law, as the other three States have objected to specific places that have been included in the ESA regions,” commented a senior official from the concerned department.

The dominant sentiment in Kerala was that this notification would subsume agricultural plantations, curtail the State’s hydro-electricity plans, and would lead to a migration crisis given the State’s high population density.

This is crucial as successive governments at the Centre, including the NDA over the past decade, have failed to reach a consensus on how much of the Ghats should be declared as ESA.

The first draft notification was issued in 2014, and the current draft, issued on July 31 2024 and made public on August 2, is “open to comments” from the public for 60 days.

At present, the total ESA area across all States amounts to 56,825 square km. Kerala has 9,993 sq km; Karnataka 20,668 sq km, Tamil Nadu 6,914 sq km; Maharashtra 17,340 sq km; Goa 1,461 sq km and Gujarat 449 sq km.

As per the procedure, once the ESA notification is finalised, it will invite a complete ban on

-mining, quarrying and sand mining in the ESA and all existing mines would have to be phased out within five years.

-New thermal power projects and the expansion of existing plants will not be allowed, and new ‘Red category’ industries – a list of which will be drawn up the Central Pollution Control Board – will be prohibited.

-New and expansion projects of building and construction with built-up areas of 20,000 square metres and above, and all new and expansion townships and area development projects with an area of 50 hectares and above, or with built-up area of 1,50,000 square metres and above will also be prohibited.

-Hydropower projects conforming to certain conditions will, however, be allowed, and a separate monitoring mechanism will be established for economic activity in the region.