Much of northern Kerala is susceptible to landslides, one reason why the Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad district, the site of Tuesday’s landslide, was demarcated as an eco-sensitive area by two expert committees 10 years ago.
The K Kasturirangan-led high-level working group (HLWG) and a three-member expert committee formed by the Kerala government in 2013 had both recommended that this particular area be included in the larger eco-sensitive zone being demarcated in the state, but the recommendations have not yet been put into effect.
The HLWG, which was formed to demarcate ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in the entire Western Ghats region, had included 13 villages in the Wayanad district of Kerala in its recommendations.
The ESAs are areas in which human activities, including construction and industries, are sought to be regulated because of the fragile ecology and special provisions are invoked to protect the environment.
The 13 villages in Wayanad included Thariye, Achooranam, Pozhuthana, Kottappadi (part), Chundale, Kunnathidavaka and Vellarimala, where the disaster occurred.
However, other disaster sites, including Chooralmala, Mundakkai, Attamala, were not marked as ESA in either of these reports. Vythiri taluka, which includes Meppadi panchayat, received as much as 280 mm rainfall between July 29 and July 30 morning, IMD data showed. Wayanad district as a whole received almost five times its normal rainfall during this time.
Incidentally, Kerala had seen intense protests against the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil-led expert panel report on Western Ghats, as well as the Kasturirangan report, both of which were constituted to demarcate ESAs in the area.
Different groups of the state and the then Congress government protested on grounds that the reports will impose severe restrictions on cultivations of cash crops, development projects and daily needs of people.
In response, the state government had constituted a three-member expert committee comprising V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Executive Vice Chairman, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, P C Cyriac, former Rubber Board Chairman as members and Oommen V Oommen, Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) as convenor.
The expert committee recommended actual physical verification in all 123 ESA villages demarcated by Kasturirangan committee and 120 panchayats identified as ESZ1 and ESZ II by Gadgil committee. The report of the state government’s expert committee showed that forest areas in Achooranam, Kottappadi, Chundale, Kunnathidavaka and Vellarimala villages were marked as ESA areas.
The first draft notification on Western Ghats that had demarcated over 57,000 sq km across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Goa in 2013 is yet to be notified as consensus has been elusive.
“We had demarcated the ESA areas in Wayanad because they are fragile and perilous. The draft memorandum on the ESA to be notified was submitted in 2014. If the government has taken 10 years, what kind of consultative effort is this? The final notification should have been brought out in 2015 itself. Conservation efforts should not be delayed as a lot of damage has already happened in these fragile areas,” Oommen V Oommen, the former chairman of KSBB, told The Indian Express.
Currently, an Environment Ministry appointed expert panel has been examining the long-pending issue of finalising a draft notification on Western Ghats. The panel is headed by Sanjay Kumar, former Director General of Forest, Environment Ministry. The committee was still in the process of finalising the draft notification and had sought more time from the ministry.
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