Save The Ghats
Ecologically sensitive zones should be left alone
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, suppressed by the Union ministry of environment & forests for almost six months, has finally come into the public domain – albeit unofficially. And its contents show why MoEF was so reluctant to release it all this time. In an example of admirable forthrightness the panel – headed by eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgil – has lambasted policymakers for putting the Western Ghats, one of the world’s richest areas in terms of biodiversity, in danger of devastation from controversial projects. These include the mining projects in Sindhudurg and Goa, the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri and the Gundiya hydel project in Karnataka.
With huge commercial gains accruing from the projects, it is little wonder that politicians have tied up with vested interests in suppressing the voice of dissenting locals. The WGEEP report highlights how in every state (the 16,000-km Ghats run through the six states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala), attempts have been, and are being, made to stifle opposition in a variety of ways, from not holding or manipulating public hearings to manufacturing fraudulent Environmental Impact Assessment reports. It also highlights the negative role played by some forest departments, which have not only allowed forest lands to be exploited but also played the role of tyrant with local communities, who have been consistently excluded from the decision-making process.
The recommendations of the panel are radical and undoubtedly dismaying for the powers that be. Recommending a categorisation of the Ghats into three zones of ecological sensitivity – ESZ I, II and III – the panel has called for a complete moratorium on new mining licences in ESZ I. In Goa, a state where, it notes, mining has crossed the social and environmental carrying capacity, the moratorium has been recommended for ESZ II as well. Other suggestions include no new hill stations and SEZs, a total ban on converting public land to private use and the setting up of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority at the Centre and state level to monitor development. Needless to say, the recommendations have been opposed by the governments of all six states.
The WGEEP report brings to mind Eduardo Galeano’s book, Open Veins of Latin America, about the greed of the western world that completely destroyed a land rich in natural resources. The tragedy of India lies in the fact that it does not require outsiders to brutalise its natural wealth – its compromised political class, in league with vested interests, has always done a splendid job of this.
