Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the last date to file complaints against the draft map of the Ecologically Sensitive Areas (buffer zones) around protected forests, including National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, is fast approaching, public likely to be displaced over the major move to safeguard the environment continue to be anxious as the authorities are yet to address the concerns.
The last date to submit complaints is January 7, 2023.
The manual inspection of lands for determining the exact areas of human habitations falling within the buffer zones has not begun in most of the panchayats.
The government’s assurance that the survey numbers of places coming under the buffer zone as per the draft survey map would be published within one week has also not been kept. The public will not be able to obtain precise information about inhabited areas without verifying the survey numbers.
There is scepticism whether activities, including establishment of help desks in all panchayats and manual inspection of lands, could be completed within the time limit. Only the preliminary meetings for setting up the help desks have been conducted in many districts. The Forest Department office at the Secretariat has to hand over the complaints to the local bodies in these places.
It has also not been disclosed in how many panchayats help desks have been set up. The lack of coordination among the Forest, Revenue and Local-Self Government is very evident.
“Help desks will be in place at all places by tomorrow. A directive has been issued to speed up the process for the physical verification of lands,” stated Forest Minister AK Saseendran.
It is alleged that the work of the expert committee headed by Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan, constituted to demarcate inhabited areas, is limited to holding meetings. The minutes of the online meeting conducted on December 20 have not been published so far.