Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji (SD)

Panaji, Jun 19: The Supreme Court has sought a reply on a petition filed against the Goa government, other Western Ghats states and the central government seeking the implementations of recommendations carried out on the reports of Western Ghat Ecology Experts Panel (WGEP).

The petition alleged that the authorities ignored the recommendations on the WGEP report headed by Madhav Gadgil and the report of the Kasturirangan high-level committee as well. The petition was filed by various NGOs including the Goa foundation.

The petition demands to countermand the directions of the government on December 3, 2018, which, out of the total 1,29, 037 sq km identified by WGEP seeks to protect an area of 56,825 sq km arbitrarily.

It further alleged Kerala to have excluded the entire recommended area and set up its own committee while in Goa and Maharashtra a large number of villages were excluded from the protection zone, the petition stated.