Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan used the seventh governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog to press the Centre for legislation to circumvent the Supreme Court directive to impose an ecologically sensitive buffer zone within a one-kilometre radius of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
The imposition of the buffer zone had precipitated a palpable sense of uneasiness in Kerala, given that forests accounted for nearly 30% of its geographical area.
Moreover, many settler farmers abutting forests feared the proposed buffer zone would impede development and upend their livelihood. The districts of Wayanad and Idukki, which has a 72.33 and 74.1% forest cover respectively, had also emerged as the hotspots of angry resistance against the Supreme Court order.
