The Centre has at last formed a high-level group which is to look into the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), which had stirred a hornet’s nest with its stringent sets of measures that were to protect the ecologically fragile Western Ghats.
The nine-member group, which is to be headed by Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan, is loaded with experts who have had little or nothing to do with the Western Ghats. The group formed by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is to examine the report of the WGEEP, which had been headed by eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgil.
Other members of the group include CR Babu, professor emeritus of Delhi University, JM Mauskar, ex-special secretary with MoEF, Kanchan Chopra, a former director of the Institute of Economic Growth, Jagdiwsh Kishwan, additional director-general of forests (wildlife), Darshan Shankar, chairman of the Institute of Ayrveda and Integrative Medicine, Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment.
The group will have to submit an action plan to the ministry of environment and forestswithin two months of the notification, which was issued by the ministry on August 17.
