The letter states, "Despite the Bombay HC order to submit the report to them in a sealed envelope before January 12, 2012, it has not yet been done by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). The WGEEP report has been denied under Right to Information to stakeholders of the report including environmentalists and villagers.''
The panel chaired by Madhav Gadgil was constituted in March 2010, by the MoEF to recommend measures, and assist the government in the preservation and demarcate areas in this region to be notified as ecologically sensitive areas.
Mumbai-based Awaaz Foundation is the petitioner in pending public interest litigation in the Mumbai High Court to declare Sawantwadi-Dodamarg corridor in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra as an ecologically sensitive area under the Environment Protection Act 1986. Following this PIL, the Bombay HC extended the moratorium on mining in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg district until January 31 and ordered the MoEF to submit the report before January 12.
Sumaira Abdulali, convenor of the Foundation, told TOI that the WGEEP report is crucial. The summary of the report recommends preservations of large portions of the Western Ghats. "It is for this reason that we had requested the HC to submit the report and to take the recommendations into consideration before the moratorium on mining in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg district is lifted,'' she said. Read the full report here.
Source: Dipannita Das, TNN, Pune.
