19.10.13

Somewhere in Maharashtra....

The moratorium on mining in most parts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts has been lifted by the Union environment ministry (MoEF). Now, it is limited only to the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor.
The moratorium had been put in place in August 2010 (following a Bombay high court order on a PIL by Awaaz Foundation’s convenor Sumaira Abdulali, who sought the declaration of the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg corridor as an ecologically sensitive area, or ESA) and extended up to October 31 this year.
In an internal memo issued, the MoEF said it had in principle accepted the report of the Dr K Kasturirangan high-level working group (HLWG) on the demarcation of the Western Ghats. Citing the report, the MoEF said, “A substantial portion of Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts fall outside the definition of Western Ghats as identified by the HLWG. It has recommended the lifting of moratorium in these districts, subject to certain stipulations.” The MoEF said it was lifting the moratorium in the non-Western Ghats areas of the two districts, except the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg corridor. Thus, the moratorium will be applicable to Khed, Chiplun, Sangameshwar, Lanja and the Rajapur talukas of Ratnagiri, and Kankavli, Sawantwadi, Dodamarg, Deogad, Vaibhavwadi and Kudal talukas of Sindhudurg.
Abdulali said that while she was happy about Sawantwadi-Dodamarg, the acceptance of the Kasturirangan report was a dilution of ESAs. D Stalin, director of the NGO Vanshakti, said that were it not for the brave people of Sawantwadi-Dodamarg, the entire region would have been ravaged by the mining industry. 

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