No timeline set for sorting out of issues on W.Ghat report

Environment Minister M Veerappa Moily today refused to give any timeline on the settlement of issues regarding the implementation of an expert committee report on Western Ghats.
"I can't give you a timeline. In the Ministry of Environment and Forest...We don't give timeline. I can give you timeline only when everything is worked out...," Moily said when asked how soon the issues regarding implementation of Kasturirangan-panel report will be settled.
The Ministry is in the process of working out a solution to address the issues raised by those opposed to the report's recommendations, he said.
His statement comes at a time when parties and farmers outfits in Kerala backed by religious bodies have opposed the Centre's decision to implement key suggestions of a report prepared by a 10-member panel headed by K Kasturirangan.

The matter has become a big election issue in the state ruled by Congress-led UDF.
Opposition LDF, led by CPI (M), has alleged that it would lead to large scale displacement of farmers.

Stung by protests in Kerala, the Environment Ministry had recently clarified that there was no ban on agriculture and plantation activities along the Western Ghats.
At the same time, the Ministry has said that ban will continue on activities including red category industries, mining, quarrying, sand mining, thermal power plants, building and construction projects of 20,000 sq m area and above and township and area development projects with an area of 50 ha and above or with built up area of 1,50,000 sq m and above.

Talking to reporters, Moily said he has written to Chief Minister of six states -- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat -- through which the ecologically -sensitive hills traverse -- seeking their suggestions about the implementation of the report
"Three states have already responded to the letters," he said.
The Kasturirangan-headed High Level Working Group's report was implemented during the tenure of Moily's predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan.