Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said that the new panel, yet to be constituted, would have representatives from relevant ministries along with her own ministry, the six states of Western Ghats, and independent experts. “We have received a lot of comments from stakeholders on the WGEEP report. Now the new panel will look at the recommendations to review the whole thing. It requires consultations with states, which we will do," she said.
Ever since the ministry made it public upon a court order, the WGEEP report, also known as the Gadgil committee report — with ecologist Madhav Gadgil chairing the committee — had received more than 2,000 comments till last Friday, the last date for the submission of public comments.
States have, by and large, rejected the WGEEP recommendations saying they were impractical and in many cases seek to violate states' rights over their natural resources. Kerala has criticised the report while Tamil Nadu is yet to reply. Read the full report here.
Source: Avishek G Dastidar, Indian Express,  New Delhi.
