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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday assured that the lives and livelihood of the people living in the buffer zone areas would be protected.
Speaking to media persons here, Chief Minister Vijayan said that it is the firm stand of the government that inhabited areas within the boundaries of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks should be excluded from the ecologically sensitive zone ((ESZ), also called buffer zone.
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“The government will not take any action that affects the livelihood of people residing along protected forests. We are firm in our stand that inhabited regions and agricultural lands outside national parks and wildlife sanctuaries must be excluded,” said the CM.
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He said that the final report will be submitted to the Supreme Court only after considering the opinions and suggestions of all the people in the buffer zone areas and including all the buildings and constructions.
Targeting the Opposition, he alleged that false information was being spread in the name of the buffer zone.
The Chief Minister’s assurance came in the wake of mounting protests against the flaws in the satellite survey carried out as part of determining forest buffer zones
A satellite survey conducted by the Kerala government to identify human settlements and agricultural areas, which should be exempted from the purview of one km of eco-sensitive zones of protected forest tracts in the state, has drawn flak from the Opposition Congress, the Church and various farmer outfits in the state
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, in its order on June 3, said that national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and such protected forests must have Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) of minimum one-km from their boundaries.
The court said that the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEF & CC) on February 9, 2011, which have either banned or regulated a bunch of activities within the ESZ, should be strictly adhered to.
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