PANJIM: More than 96% of the state’s geographical area will fall under the category of ‘inviolate forest areas’ for the purpose of protection, anti-mining activist Ramesh Gauns has said.
The Committee to Formulate Objective Parameters for Identification of Inviolate Forest Areas, which was formed to after a Group of Ministers (GoM) on environmental and developmental issues relating to coal mining and other development projects, suggested that identified pristine forest areas where any mining activity would lead to irreversible damage to the forests should be barred from any kind of non-forest activity and those which can never be regenerated to the desired quality should be protected, had in its report submitted in July last year but made public only now has drawn up a list of areas and guidelines to term forests as inviolate for mining.