Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tasked the Advocate General to file a modification petition to circumvent the Supreme Court order to impose an ecologically sensitive buffer zone within a 1-km radius of national parks and wildlife reserves.
Mr. Vijayan chaired a high-level meeting to address the uncertainty caused to lakhs of settler farmers living in the vicinity of forests. He said the government would move the Central Empowered Committee to exempt population centres from the mandated zone.
The Chief Minister also asked the Principal Chief Conservator, Forests, to furnish details of buildings and construction activity in the ecologically sensitive zone as directed by the Supreme Court and within the deadline set by the judiciary.
The government would also inform the Centre’s Empowered Committee about the problems the ESZ would pose to Kerala, given its expansive forest cover and high population density. Moreover, the land was at a premium in the State.
The government also created a committee headed by Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran to steer the State’s efforts to get a favourable SC order.
Mr.. Saseendran, Chief Secretary V.P. Joy, Advocate General K. Gopalakrishna Kurup, Principal Secretary, Forest department, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, and Chief Conservator of Forests, Bennichan Thomas and Chief Wildlife Warden, Ganga Singh, attended.
