Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Government has submitted to the Centre its revised recommendations on demarcation of 'ecologically sensitive areas' (ESAs) in the Western Ghats in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the state assembly on Monday.
A new report with the suggestions had been prepared based on the survey and studies conducted by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC), he said.
The centre had sought the views of states on the ESAs for issuing the final notification based on the report of the Kasturirangan committee, set up to suggest measures to conserve and protect the ecology of Western Ghats in Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
As per the Kasthurirangan report, a total of 13,108 sq km including stretches in 123 villages in Kerala was proposed to be demarcated as ecologically fragile land under the ESA.
The high range areas of the state had witnessed protests after the Centre passed two orders in November, 2013 for implementing the report, which imposed several restrictions, including on taking up of construction and quarrying.
Following the protests, the state assembly had unanimously passed a resolution in January 2014 asking the Centre to exempt populated, agriculture and plantation araes from the ambit of ESA.
Vijayan said KSREC "has clearly defined the ESAs in the region based on facts. Its report and recommendations were recently approved by the state cabinet and submitted to the Centre for its consideration," he said.
He said the state expected that the Centre would accept the revised recommendations while issuing the final notification.
He was replying to a notice for an adjournment motion seeking a discussion on the difficulties faced by local people in high range Munnar in Western Ghats for getting no-objection-certificate (NoC) for constructing houses.
Instructions had been given to the Idukki District Collector to issue the NoC for building houses, Vijayan said.
He also said an exclusive legislation to resolve various issues in Munnar such as construction activities was under the government's active consideration.