The expert committee, appointed by the Kerala government, to study the Kasturirangan report in detail, recommended the government to make changes in the clauses of Environmentally Fragile Land (EFL) in the Western Ghats. The committee submitted its report to chief minister Oommen Chandy today. It also recommended to stop land acquisition proceedings according to the Kasturirangan committee report.
Those who have land up to 5 acres should not be brought under the EFL clause, it suggested. Committee chairman, Oommen V Oommen, said most of the complaints against the Kasturirangan committee report were about the EFL. The Kasturirangan Committee had included 123 villages across the Western Ghat in Kerala in the EFL list. Most of these villages are agricultural and thickly populated areas. This evoked a series of agitations in the state that sometimes culminated into violent incidents.
The Catholic Church has strongly opposed the report and the High Range Protection Committee had reacted strongly in various parts of the state, mainly in Idukki and Wayanad districts. Thamarassery Forest office in Wayanad district was set on fire by a section of the agitators.
The Oommen Committee reported that serious lapses happened in determining the EFL areas. The committee adopted satellite survey to determine EFL and even plantations and estates were included in it. In the light of the agitation, the government appointed a fresh committee to study the Kasturirangan committee report in detail.
Meanwhile, the Centre issued an office order in November directing immediate implementation of five proposals in the Kasturirangan report. This was the immediate provocation for the agitation. Later, the central government sought the opinion of the five states in implementing the report. Chandy today said the government would reply to the Centre according to the findings of the Oommen Committee.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a press conference in Delhi today said the final decision was yet to be taken on the implementation of the recommendations of the Kasturirangan Committee report. Dialogues were still on and the government had asked the state governments to submit their views on the report.
