Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has urged the Centre to defer finalising the latest draft notification declaring parts of the Western Ghats an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA), saying the state’s high-level committee should be allowed a year to complete its report and field inspections.
Shivakumar made the request during a meeting with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday. He also sought early wildlife-related clearances for the proposed Sharavathi pumped-storage project and the Mekedatu balancing reservoir and drinking water project.
The July 27 draft notification, issued by the Union Environment Ministry, is the seventh proposal to designate parts of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive. It covers 56,825.7 square kilometres across six states, including 20,668 square kilometres in Karnataka.
According to the report by Prajavani, Shivakumar said the Karnataka government has constituted a high-level committee that is expected to submit its findings within one year. He asked the Centre not to finalise the notification until the committee’s report is submitted and field inspections are completed.
The deputy chief minister also said he had already requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold back the notification during this period. He said the Centre could decide its next steps after consulting the state government.
The draft notification in its current form has been rejected by the Karnataka legislature, which has called for field inspections. The state’s position places the proposed ESA framework alongside an ongoing debate over how environmental protection rules should be applied to inhabited and economically active areas of the Western Ghats.
Shivakumar separately requested that the Eco Cane Sugar Energy Limited unit be excluded from the proposed ESA area. He said the facility, established in 2016, employs more than 500 people and supports about 5,000 families.
The Western Ghats ESA process has direct implications for land-use decisions, industrial activity, infrastructure permissions and the treatment of settlements and livelihood-linked facilities in the notified areas. The latest request means that the finalisation of the draft, as far as Karnataka is concerned, is now being linked by the state government to a new review and physical verification exercise.
The Union government is yet to announce whether it will accept Karnataka’s request to defer the notification. The next formal step will depend on the Centre’s response to the state’s request and the findings of Karnataka’s high-level committee.
