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9 months on, panels galore & report in limbo
There is no dearth of committees set up by the Environment Ministry for the Western Ghats. First it was the Madhav Gadgil committee to study the ecology of the world heritage site — then another was decided upon to review the recommendations of the committee and now there is a third which would collate the comments received for the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, put up on the Ministry website.
The report has elicited 1,500 comments during the period of one and half months in which the Ministry had invited comments with the deadline ending on July 5. The ultimate decision by the Ministry to accept or reject the report that has been hanging fire for the past nine months would now depend on the results of collation by the latest committee.
According to sources in the Ministry, the committee will also look into the views of the State Governments, including Kerala. No decision has yet been taken on the structure or head of the committee. Neither has there been a deadline fixed for submission of the report.
Meanwhile, Madhav Gadgil, who had headed the WGEEP along with VS Vijayan, a member, has criticised the manner in which the comments to the report were sought. He suggested that the report should be made accessible to the people of the Western Ghats region for eliciting their views.
The panel felt that those who responded represent a small section of elites who can read and understand English with access to the internet. Their opinions may be biased as they are not from amongst those who actually represent society of the Ghats. Hence, he reiterated the translation of the panel report into local languages by the Ministry.
Earlier, shortly after the Western Ghats bagged the UNESCO World Heritage site tag, early this month, there was much opposition from States such as Kerala and Karnataka against following the recommendations of WGEEP, for the ecological management of the Ghats in keeping with the IUCN guidelines.
The Ministry was quick to set up another committee to review the recommendations of the WGEEP. It clarified its necessity due to the growing oppositions by the Western Ghats States stating following IUCN recommendations in this regard and accepting the WGEEP report are two different issues and should not be interlinked.
There is no dearth of committees set up by the Environment Ministry for the Western Ghats. First it was the Madhav Gadgil committee to study the ecology of the world heritage site — then another was decided upon to review the recommendations of the committee and now there is a third which would collate the comments received for the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, put up on the Ministry website.
The report has elicited 1,500 comments during the period of one and half months in which the Ministry had invited comments with the deadline ending on July 5. The ultimate decision by the Ministry to accept or reject the report that has been hanging fire for the past nine months would now depend on the results of collation by the latest committee.
According to sources in the Ministry, the committee will also look into the views of the State Governments, including Kerala. No decision has yet been taken on the structure or head of the committee. Neither has there been a deadline fixed for submission of the report.
Meanwhile, Madhav Gadgil, who had headed the WGEEP along with VS Vijayan, a member, has criticised the manner in which the comments to the report were sought. He suggested that the report should be made accessible to the people of the Western Ghats region for eliciting their views.
The panel felt that those who responded represent a small section of elites who can read and understand English with access to the internet. Their opinions may be biased as they are not from amongst those who actually represent society of the Ghats. Hence, he reiterated the translation of the panel report into local languages by the Ministry.
Earlier, shortly after the Western Ghats bagged the UNESCO World Heritage site tag, early this month, there was much opposition from States such as Kerala and Karnataka against following the recommendations of WGEEP, for the ecological management of the Ghats in keeping with the IUCN guidelines.
The Ministry was quick to set up another committee to review the recommendations of the WGEEP. It clarified its necessity due to the growing oppositions by the Western Ghats States stating following IUCN recommendations in this regard and accepting the WGEEP report are two different issues and should not be interlinked.
