The Times of India: Mumbai: Friday, May 25, 2012.
The Madhav Gadgil report on the Western Ghats has been uploaded on the website of the union (MoEF), albeit with a disclaimer. "The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report has not been formally accepted by the ministry. The report is still being analyzed and considered by the ministry," reads the disclaimer.
The MoEF has ensured that anyone who clicks to download the report records having read the report. The ministry has also called for objections and suggestions from the public within 45 days. The report was submitted to the ministry in August last year. However, the ministry refused to publicize the report. Activists had then used the right to information act (RTI) to force the government into putting it in the public domain.
The chief information commissioner also ordered the same. This order was challenged in the Delhi high court, which dismissed the ministry's plea and ordered the report to be made public. Activist Sumaira Abdulali, who had filed RTI queries as well as a public interest litigation asking for the report to be put in the public domain, said, "It is now time for people to let their views be known to the government."
Residents of Sawantwadi-Dodhamarg in the Sindhdurga district of the state are likely to ask for a ban on mining in their area. The state had granted 49 mining leases in this wildlife corridor, endangering the tiger.
Following a TOI expose, the government issued a moratorium on mining in the area, which is still in force. The MoEF had earlier sought the opinion of only six state governments, keeping people out of the decision-making process.
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