THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, June 25: Amid protests over recommendations of a government report on Western Ghats, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said its suggestions were “balanced” and hoped the parties concerned would not allow it to be “consigned to the dustbin of history”.
Asked by reporters his reaction to Kerala government’s stand that it cannot accept recommendations of the report, he said, “I think the report is a very balanced report. It is a very detailed report. It is also a very difficult report. Because there is a need to develop.”
The Kerala government contends that most recommendations of the report Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel, headed by Madhav Gadgil, are impractical to implement.
The committee, in its August 2011 report, had recommended strict limits on development in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats zone and an indefinite moratorium on mining in large parts of the eco-sensitive zone spread over several states including Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
States like Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka have opposed to the recommendations of the panel appointed two years ago when Ramesh was the Union Minister of Environment and Forests.
“It was after a great deal of thought I selected Madhav Gadgil and other members of the panel. I think they have produced a very balanced report,” he said.
“I am sure that the state governments have their own views. This will be discussed. Now it is for the states and the Centre to sit down. I hope that the Madhav Gadgil report does not get consigned to the dustbin,” he said. (PTI)
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