Former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan will chair an expert committee formed by the Forest department to conduct field studies and record details of houses, commercial establishments and other structures that exist in the 1-km buffer zones that surround wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
In a statement here on Thursday, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran said the committee that has been constituted under directions issued by the Supreme Court will comprise the Additional Chief Secretaries of the Environment and the Local Self-Government departments, the Principal Secretary of the Forest department and former Head of Forest Force K.J. Varghese as its members.
Another committee has also been constituted to provide technical assistance to the expert committee. This panel will have Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance and Forest Intelligence) Pramod G. Krishnan, professor of geography Richard Scaria and Kerala State Biodiversity Board member secretary A.V. Santhosh Kumar as its members, and Kerala Institute of Local Administration director general Joy Elamon as convener.
A high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister had reviewed the report submitted by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre that had mapped the buffer zones using satellite images. The report will be scrutinised by the expert committee prior to its submission to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Saseendran expressed optimism that the State will be able 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.
