The state of affairs within the Western Ghats has gone from unhealthy to worse: Ecologist Madhav Gadgil

The report, ready by Gadgil and the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him, is within the information after over two dozen individuals misplaced their lives in landslides and flash floods within the hilly areas of the Central Western Ghats up to now few days. . Kottayam and Idukki districts of Kerala. “It is most unfortunate that things are coming in such a dire situation,” he stated.

The report, popularly referred to as the Gadgil Committee report submitted to the Union Environment Ministry in 2011, prompt steps to be taken to protect the ecologically weak ghats, that are a treasure trove of wildlife, together with crops, fish, reptiles, amphibians. Contains greater than 30 % of all species of Birds and mammals are discovered all through the nation.

“The means ahead is to really implement (WGEEP report) by correct democratic course of. The means ahead is that the communities residing within the Western Ghats ought to assert their constitutional democratic rights.

Gadgil, blaming ecologically dangerous actions like stone quarrying for the calamities within the Western Ghats, dismissed the suggestion that the time for implementing the report to guard the hills was over. “It is definitely a completely nonsensical statement because there things are getting worse. No time is over to implement this,” he stated whereas answering a query.

Asked why such disasters are taking place solely within the Kerala a part of the Western Ghats, Gadgil stated, “It is a misunderstanding” and states like Goa and Maharashtra are experiencing the identical yr after yr.

Older than the Himalayan mountain vary, the Western Ghats working parallel to the nation’s west coast, roughly 30–50 km inland, cross the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The vary of mountains covers an space of ​​about 140,000 km. In 1600 km lengthy part which is interrupted solely 30 km by Palghat Gap.

According to Gadgil, the WGEEP report ought to be carried out with the complete participation of the individuals and the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution mandate individuals’s participation in decision-making.

Referring to the “Plachimada case” in Kerala, the place native residents fought a authorized battle towards the Coca-Cola Company for water rights, Gadgil stated the Kerala High Court has categorically dominated that gram panchayats ought to be handled as harmless. Right to livelihood and safety of well being. People.

Gadgil stated, “So these rights are accepted, they are constitutional, they should be enforced for the country…for the Western Ghats and people should be asserted at a higher level for their rights.”

Asked if he was in favor of a authorized path to implement the WGEEP report to guard the lives and livelihoods of the individuals within the Western Ghats, Gadgil stated, “Somehow I think you have to correct the misrule in our country.” mustn’t depend on the courts to take action”. “It is not just a question of the courts. It is a question of people getting organized and asserting their constitutional rights.”

Gadgil stated the suggestions of his report ought to be mentioned on the degree of each native physique – gram panchayats, ward sabhas and municipalities – their suggestions ought to be sought and choices ought to be taken by a democratic course of.

“This has been emphasized in the report,” he stated. Gadgil referred to as for satisfactory participation of the individuals residing within the ghats in resolution making. He urged the individuals to place “substantial pressure” on the elected representatives who are usually not listening to him as we speak. Gadgil stated, ‘For this, strain ought to come from beneath.

The report, written by the Gadgil panel and submitted to the Union Environment Ministry 10 years in the past (in August 2011), advisable the safety of the Western Ghats by designating the whole hilly area as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA). However, the report didn’t see the sunshine. Instead, the central authorities arrange a working group on the Western Ghats beneath Indian house scientist Ok Kasturirangan to look at the Gadgil Committee report in 2012.

The Kasturirangan panel submitted its report back to the surroundings ministry and diminished the ecologically protected space within the Western Ghats to simply 37 per cent. Criticizing the Kasturirangan panel’s report, Gadgil alleged that it advocated hurt to the democratic course of, which is the essence of his WGEEP report.

“I strongly object to people saying that the Kasturirangan report was debilitating (WGEEP). This was a distortion as the report prepared by Kasturirangan (the panel) specifically stated that local communities had no role in decision-making. It is against our constitution”, he stated. “So don’t call it dilution. Kasturirangan (panel) distorted the whole (report) and advocated sabotage of the democratic process”, Gadgil stated.

Asked what would have prompted Prakash Javadekar and the Sangh Parivar organizations in Kerala, which had earlier supported his report, to maintain quiet on the latter, the ecologist stated he had spoken to him forward of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. which had paved the best way for it. The BJP was getting energy on the Center however later “they went completely silent”. Javadekar turned the Union Environment Minister in 2014.

“They went completely silent. They didn’t respond to any of my emails…It is their choice. Let it be,” stated Gadgil. Congress to the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) by Jairam Ramesh in February 2010 He was appointed to organize a roadmap for conservation of biodiversity of ecologically delicate hills throughout his tenure as Union Environment Minister within the UPA led by Mr. Ramesh on the non-implementation of the Gadgil Committee report in Kerala. It has been cited as the primary purpose for frequent floods and landslides within the hilly areas of the state.

Whenever a pure calamity strikes Kerala, Madhav Gadgil’s 2011 Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report is recalled. A decade later, it nonetheless hasn’t come into pressure – regardless of devastating floods in 2018 and 2020.

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 17, 2021

Former Union Environment Minister informed PTI That the report is related to the whole Western Ghats unfold over six states, however sadly has been mothballed whereas ecological destruction continues unabated. A mountain vary and one of many world’s largest biodiversity hotspots, the Western Ghats was added to the record of World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) within the yr 2018.