Bahuguna to take up eco-sensitive zone issue with Centre

The Uttarakhand Cabinet has opposed a gazette notification declaring a 4171.59 sq km stretch between Gomukh and Uttarkashi as eco-sensitive, saying the area is strategically important as it shares border with China and authorised the Chief Minister to take up the issue with the Centre.
At a meeting chaired by CM Vijay Bahuguna yesterday, the cabinet decided to seek modifications in the notification issued by the Centre maintaining that the document in its present form would bring development activities in the region to a halt.
The Cabinet authorised the Chief Minister to take up the issue with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Forest and Environment Ministry saying the notification went against the interests of the state.

The Cabinet opined that the area between Gomukh and Uttarkashi on either side of the Bahgirathi river was very important for strategic reasons as it was close to Uttarakhand's border with China which has laid a vast network of roads and other infrastructural facilities along its borders with India.
The state government will prepare a detailed report on the problems arising from the notification and seek modifications in it by the Centre, Bahuguna said after the meeting.
"Environmental protection and development should go hand in hand. We will meet our central leaders and share with them our reservations about the gazette notification declaring the area as an eco-sensitive zone, he said.