The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) also informed the bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar and judicial member Justice U D Salvi that the draft notification for declaration of the ecologically sensitive area of western ghats, as identified by Kasturirangan panel, is under finalisation.
The ministry contended that after its in-principle acceptance of the recommendations of the Kasturirangan panel, also referred to as the High Level Working Group (HLWG), it "issued directions under the Environment Protection Act on November 13, 2013, prohibiting certain and/or expansion projects and activities to provide immediate protection to the Western Ghats and maintain its environmental integrity."
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The projects or activities that have been prohibited are mining, quarrying and sand mining, thermal power plants, construction projects of 20,000 square meter area and above, red category of industries among others. The MoEF has clarified that no fresh cases of such projects will be considered for clearance, except those which were pending prior to upload of HLWG report on the ministry's website i.e. before April 17, 2013.
The ministry also submitted that it lifted the moratorium imposed on projects in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra as the HLWG in its report had recommended the same. The submissions were made in a fresh affidavit filed by the ministry after the NGT on November 12, 2013, had observed that the government's acceptance of HLWG's recommendations is silent on various aspects and had directed the MoEF to file an appropriate affidavit.
The tribunal, on November 12, had said that it is no longer mandatory for MoEF to refer to Madhav Gadgil panel's report on Western Ghats- spread across the six states of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala- while deciding applications for clearance for projects in the permissible areas there.
In its report submitted to MoEF in August 2011, the Gadgil Committee, also known as the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), had designated the entire Western Ghats as an 'ecologically sensitive' area. The HLWG headed by Kasturirangan was set up to finalise the Gadgil panel's report and had submitted its findings to MoEF in April.
Some of HLWG's recommendations which have been accepted in-principle by MoEF are, definition of the extent of the Western Ghats demarcated by the panel, the ecologically sensitive area identified and delineated by it, complete ban on mining, quarrying, sand-mining, thermal power plants and red category industries in ecologically sensitive areas.
According to MoEF, HLWG has identified approximately 37 per cent (about 60,000 sq km) of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive. The ecologically sensitive areas also include protected areas and world heritage sites in the region.
The other recommendations that have been accepted 'in- principle' by the ministry are, hydro and wind energy projects are allowed in the Western Ghats subject to stringent and applicable conditions.