A letter is being circulated to voters in Sattari for signature, claiming closure of mining in the area will result in locals losing their only source of livelihood
The Letter will be submitted to MoE&FCC
Goemkarponn desk
SAKHALIM: Locals of Sattari are startled to receive a ‘Signature Campaign letter’ addressed to the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) allegedly circulated through Village Panchayat members to raise objections to the draft notification, citing that the closure of mining in the said area will result in locals losing their only source of livelihood, as one of the clauses.
Highly reliable sources placed in this area informed that the Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane has circulated this Letter through the Panch members to carry out a signing campaign in their respective Village Panchayats.
The Letter addressed to the MoEFCC is intended to raise objections to the draft notification re-issued by the MoEFCC on July 06, 2022.
Goemkarponn possesses all the supporting documents highlighting the hidden agenda to mislead the Centre with a fabricated clause.
The circulated Letter focuses on raising objections against identifying the village as an ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA).
“The said village is erroneously included in the list of villages identified as the Western Ghats ESA. The village so mentioned consists of sparse vegetation and therefore holds suitable for the development,” the Letter says.
It further reads, “Identification of these villages as ESA will heavily affect the mining sector, which is the only livelihood of locals and hence be excluded from the list.
Besides, one of the other mentioned clauses states that the villages, if included in the list of the eco-sensitive zone, will not only hamper the local businesses pertaining to stone quarrying and sand mining but will also affect the ore mining resulting in locals losing the only source of livelihood.”
Reacting to teh circulation of the letter Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said there seems to be something fishy in teh whole drama.
Informing that the ore mining in Nagargao and surrounding ESAs were shut in 2003, Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said, “The signing campaign seems to be a hidden agenda of the Minister to restart the mining in the eco-sensitive area of Mhadai Wildlife. Restoration of dead mines or mining will adversely affect the eco-sensitive zone.”
Further, he said, the heavy metal mine water, when it penetrates into the groundwater through surface seepage, heavily affects the self-purification ability of the water bodies.
Kerkar said, “Major section of the village depends on Cashew and horticulture plantation. The draft notification declares a complete ban on mining, quarrying and sand mining in the ESA. Restoration of mines will damage the surrounding rivers and farmland, thereby destroying locals’ livelihood source”.
Stating that nature has started healing itself after the closure of mining in ESA, Kerkar said that acceptance of the Letter by the Union Ministry on false ground will be disastrous for democracy.
“Around a decade ago, I had registered strong opposition against the State government’s move to restart mining in the ESA, the villages coming under the jurisdiction of Nagargao, Savordem, Khotode Village Panchayat, which are situated within 10 km distance of Wildlife protected area”, added Kerkar.
“The committee of Supreme Court on November 06, 2003, had asked the governments to shut these mines, and accordingly, the action was taken. Since then, the government has been making every effort to restart the mining in the ESA, failing to understand its disastrous effect on the ecology of Sattari”. Kerkar alleged this to be the main reason why the government is showing lethargy in obtaining the final notification related to the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
ESAs are notified and regulated by the MoEFCC under the
Environment Protection Act 1986. According to the National Wildlife Action Plan, Ecologically-Sensitive Areas (ESAs) are located within 10 km of protected areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
MoEFCC, on July 6, 2022, re-issued the draft notification of ESA in the Western Ghats. In a draft that was released, Centre has notified an area ad-measuring 56,825 sq km that is 37% of the total area of Western Ghats spread across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as ESA.
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