Buffer zone: Expert committee report to be submitted next week

Thiruvananathapuram: The expert committee headed by retired justice  Thottathil B Radhakrishnan will submit a report on buffer zones to the Kerala Government in a week's time. The five-member expert committee was formed to study the impact of buffer zones or Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) around protected forest areas in the State.

A team of Forest, Revenue and Local Self-Government department officials had finished the inspection of the populated areas within the buffer zones last week. In all 81,258 constructions were identified during the manual inspection of the sites. 

The expert committee has also examined the reports on all 11 wildlife sanctuaries. 

The final report by the expert committee will be submitted to the Supreme Court only after due consideration of the technical committee's findings.

The State Government had also appointed a technical committee under the Chief Secretary to look into the buffer zone issue.

The panel chaired by former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Thottathil B Radhakrishnan was formed in September 2022 to study and record details of houses, commercial establishments and other structures that exist in the 1 km buffer zone around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.

The committee had urged the public to send in through email or by post their complaints, concerns and suggestions over the determination of buffer zone around the 22 protected forest areas as human settlements too exist within this area. 

The expert committee's tenure, which was extended by two months in December, will expire on February 28.

Through the report, the State hopes to prove the practical difficulties in implementing the guidelines for buffer zones in the densely populated regions that come within 1 km of the protected areas.

The Supreme Court had ordered, in its verdict on June 3, that there should be a buffer zone of at least 1 km around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.