Pune: The notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) last month declaring about 60,000 sq km area of the Western Ghats as an eco-sensitive area (ESA) has been further amended to allow townships and area development projects of up to 50 hectare in the demarcated zone. The MoEF notification issued on October 19 had banned “new building construction projects of over 20,000 sq mt, township and area development projects” in the ESA. However, a new notification issued on November 16, has restricted building and construction projects to 20,000 sq mt and township and area development projects to an area of 50 hectare or with a built-up area of 1,50,000 sq mt. The previous notification has been withdrawn. Environmental activists, who have been opposing the Union government’s decision of accepting the recommendations of the high-level working group, headed by K Kasturirangan, instead of those made by the Western Ghats ecology expert panel, headed by Madhav Gadgil, said the move was a further dilution of the measures to protect the ecologically fragile region. Gadgil, who has been vociferous in his opposition to the Union government’s decision, said these developments seem to reaffirm the fears that the decision to carve out an ESA was only the first step before areas for development in the forested areas are notified. The report prepared by the Kasturirangan Committee had recommended that townships and area development projects should be prohibited in the ESA. “There has basically been an attempt all along to dilute the measures for the protection of the region. It really is shocking how systematically the restrictions are being diluted,” said Sumaira Abdulali, who had filed a petition in the Bombay high court seeking the declaration of the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor as an eco-sensitive area. This had been followed by a moratorium on environment clearances for projects in the Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri district, which was lifted when the MoEF accepted the Kasturirangan report “in principle.” Abdulali said although she was not aware of any particular township planned in the two districts but with the latest development, the threat of such projects mushrooming all over the Western Ghats looms large. Sujit Patwardhan, founder of ‘Parisar’, an NGO, said the further dilution of restrictions on construction activity within the ESA had demonstrated that the Union government was more influenced by builders’ lobbies than being concerned about the welfare of the people. “The Gadgil committee was trying to put in place an alternative to the top to down approach that we have towards development, empowering the local communities to take decisions on projects. That this was rejected for the Kasturirangan report was bad enough, but now they have diluted the safeguards further,” Patwardhan said. “No township of any size should be allowed in the ESA. They should be protected biodiversity reserves. The existing villages in these areas should be given the responsibility of protection and paid substantially for the same for delivering environmental services,” said Green activist Aneeta Benninger questioning the purpose for building townships in the region.