The Kerala government is taking steps to ensure the complete exclusion of inhabited and agricultural areas from the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) in the Western Ghats, Agriculture Minister T. Siddique has said.

According to Mr. Siddique, the Centre’s seventh draft ESA notification, issued on July 25, covers 9,993.7 sq. km across 131 villages in Kerala. The 60-day period for submitting objections and suggestions to the draft notification will end on September 24, and the State will submit a comprehensive response to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change within the stipulated period, he said at a press conference.

The government intends to have more than 30 villages completely removed from the proposed ESA list. In the remaining villages, it will seek the exclusion of inhabited areas and agricultural land from the ESA limits, Mr. Siddique said.

Given the significance of the issue, consultations are continuing under the leadership of the Chief Minister and the Ministers of Environment, Agriculture, Revenue and Forests, along with senior officials.

The Minister said the concerns of farmers and scientific evidence had also been presented at a high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister with the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Committee.

The State government would make every effort to ensure that the final ESA boundaries did not adversely affect inhabited and agricultural areas, Mr. Siddique said.