Nudged by the Delhi High Court and the Central Information Commission, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has finally made public the Gadgil panel report on ecology in the Western Ghats, but with a disclaimer.

The report, which was uploaded on the Ministry’s site on May 23, says: “The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report has not been formally accepted by the Ministry and that the report is still being analysed and considered by the Ministry.’’

The report was submitted to the Ministry in August 2011. Public comments have been invited within 45 days.

Relies on Lokayukta report while filing reply in Supreme Court

The State government has washed its hands of a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged role of three former chief ministers — S M Krishna, N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy —in illegal mining, and decided to leave it to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to take an appropriate decision in this regard.

Recommending scrapping of two controversial hydro-power projects in Karnataka and Kerala that had run into difficulty due to opposition from environmentalists, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) has suggested setting up of a statutory authority to protect the Ghats.

The report of the panel, headed by Madhav Gadgil, formerly with the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, has called for cancellation of Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally hydro-projects, and gradual phasing out of mining activities in ecologically highly-sensitive areas of Goa by 2016.

The Environment Ministry on Wednesday finally made public the controversial report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel prepared by ecologist Madhav Gadgil and submitted almost a year ago. The publishing of the report also came with a disclaimer saying that the ministry has not yet accepted the recommendations of the report.

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC) order to make the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) public by publishing it on Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) website. The court on May 17 dismissed an MoEF petition seeking not to disclose the report, saying it could affect economic and scientific interest of the states concerned — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The report, prepared by a panel chaired by ecology expert Madhav Gadgil, had been submitted to the MoEF in August 2011. Last year, RTI applicant G Krishnan had filed an application with the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the MoEF to obtain a summary of the report,

The summary of the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), under the chairmanship of Prof Madhav Gadgil, and its report on the Athirappilly hydro-electric project in Kerala will finally be made public — not in piecemeal but in entirety. Dismissing an appeal by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) against a CIC order, Justice Vipin Sanghi of the Delhi High Court has held: “A policy evolved in the largest public interest and public good can certainly not be said to be against the strategic, scientific or economic interest of the State.”

The jatropha puzzle has finally been solved.

In 2005-06, most of the districts in the State were abuzz with the talk of jatropha. In press conferences, the then District Collectors, especially in those adjoining western and eastern ghats, talked of largescale jatropa plantations as the oil extracted from its seeds (blended with diesel up to 20 per cent) could be used as a substitute to petroleum diesel.

India-born professor Kamal Bawa has donated the entire prize money of one million Norwegian Kronor (about Rs.10 million) from the world's first major international sustainability award to the Indian organisation he founded in 1996. Bawa, distinguished professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is the 2012 winner of the Gunnerus Sustainability Award from the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and letters (DKNVS).

Protection of five river valley basins tops its agenda

The Western Ghats Task Force has submitted a proposal to recruit 1,000 forest personnel required to protect the natural forests of the Western Ghats. This was announced by Ananth Hegde Ashisara, chairperson of the Task Force, at a meeting on the protection of environment, forests and bio-diversity and pollution control at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the city on Wednesday.