The United Democratic Front (UDF) Wayanad district committee has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal on June 16 in the district seeking a quick intervention by the Union and State governments in the Supreme Court order prescribing 1 km around protected forests as Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ).
The order had cast a cloud over the lives of the public, especially the people living on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the Central and State governments must assuage their anxiety, UDF convener N.D. Appachan said in a release here.
The judgment provides for the dilution of the minimum width of the ESZ in “overwhelming” public interest and allows the State government to approach the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), he said. Hence, the governments should intervene in the issue urgently, he added.
