Ker govt publishes ESZ maps, buffer zone report

Thiruvananthapuram: With the Supreme Court-directed demarcation of buffer zones continuing to trigger anxiety among people living near the protected forests, the Kerala government on Wednesday published the Eco Sensitive Zone maps and buffer zone report in its official website.

According to the government website, these were the ESZ maps of various protected areas in the state submitted by the Forest and Wildlife Department to the Centre. ESZs, demarcated near 22 protected forests including sanctuaries and national parks in the state, could be seen in these maps shown in the website.

ESZs, inhabited areas and other constructions were marked under different shades and people can submit their complaints to the authorities concerned after verifying the maps of their respective areas and the buffer zone report.

According to official sources, the report, published along with the map, was a preliminary one prepared based on the satellite images of establishments, houses and other constructions and various activities which fall within the one km radius of protected forests in the southern state.

The buffer zone report, prepared during 2020-21, was already sent to the Centre. Meanwhile, reiterating Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's assurance that no action would be taken against the interests of people in the buffer zone issue, Forest Minister A K Saseendran on Thursday said the strong stand of the Left government is to exclude the inhabited areas from the ESZs.

He said people can lodge their complaints based on the maps and report, published now, and a help desk would be opened in this regard on December 28. All procedures would be completed by January 7 before the preparation of the final report to be submitted to the court, he added.

"The satellite survey was conducted as per the direction of the Supreme Court, The objective to publish the ESZ maps now is to give a chance for the general public to come up with their complaints if they have any and for us to address it," he said.

Revenue Minister K Rajan said the LDF government has made continuous interventions in the issue and would further take all possible steps to appraise the court about the concerns of local people on the matter.

The stand of the state government that inhabited and agricultural areas could not be included in the buffer zone would be conveyed to the apex court, he said adding that the CM had already given assurance that there was no need for any anxiety The field survey in the respective regions would be conducted in a time-bound manner, the minister added.

However, the opposition Congress-UDF continued to find fault with the state government on the buffer zone issue with Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan accusing the Pinarayi Vijayan of showing complete negligence and mismanagement and making things complex for the people.

He rejected Vijayan's charge that the previous Oommen Chandy government did not even submit the documents sought by Centre to exclude the inhabited areas from the buffer zone limit on time and said it was submitted in 2015 itself.

"When the Chandy government had decided to demarcate the buffer zones excluding inhabited areas, it was the Pinarayi Vijayan government which had recommended creating the buffer zone including the populated regions," he told reporters in Kochi.

The order issued by the Vijayan government in 2019 was the most dangerous in this regard, he charged. IUML, a prominent partner in UDF, also came out against the Left government in the issue and urged it to act in a time-bound manner at least now.

Chief Minister Vijayan on Wednesday categorically made it clear that no action would be taken that would adversely impact the life and livelihood of people living near the protected forests. He also cautioned against false propaganda by vested interests to create misunderstanding among local residents with regard to the buffer zone issue.

The strong stand of the state government is to exclude the inhabited areas from the buffer zone limit and it would go to any extent to protect the interests of local residents and farmers in this regard, Vijayan said at a press conference here.

In June, the Supreme Court had directed that a buffer zone of 1-km be maintained around forests and sanctuaries across the country. Challenging this, both the Centre and the Kerala government had filed review pleas in the apex court.– PTI