Thiruvananthapuram: The committee of experts appointed by the government is set to begin inspection of the inhabited areas up to a kilometre in the buffer zone bordering the 23 protected forests in Kerala.
The committee headed by Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan is expected to submit its interim report before December 15 and the final report before the 31st of the same month.
After a scrutiny of the report, it will be submitted to the Supreme Court.
The main aim of the committee is to rectify the errors that occurred in the satellite survey of the areas conducted by the Forest department and Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC) two months ago and also to include inhabited areas that have been left out in that survey.
The panel will begin its work by carrying out an inspection of the buffer zone around the Neyyar, Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary in Thiruvananthapuram district.
It will mainly inspect houses, establishments, and other constructions.
The Supreme Court had ordered, in its verdict on June 3, that there should be a buffer zone (ESZ/buffer zone) of at least 1 km around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
The survey by the forest department and KSREC had found that there were 49,330 habitations in the buffer zones of Kerala. The present committee of experts was set up after political parties alleged that the Forest department had done a hurried survey and that 60,000 to 70,000 habitations could be identified if a physical survey was conducted. They also cautioned that if the first survey were to be submitted in the Supreme Court, it would affect Kerala seriously.
App for inspection
The inspection of buffer zones will be conducted under the stewardship of the Local Self-government department with the cooperation of the departments of Forest, Irrigation, Revenue and the KSEB in addition to Kudumbashree.
An application named "Asset Mapper" has been prepared for the purpose. The inspection will take into account the local situation and environment.
It will specifically inspect the distance from the forest to habitations and commercial establishments. The committee will also seek people's opinions. If there are complaints that any habitation has been left out, that too will be taken into consideration before the committee prepares its final report.