Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Thursday admitted that the reservations expressed by the Uttarakhand Government had come in the way of the implementation of a crucial notification declaring a 130 km area of Uttarakhand as an “eco-sensitive zone”.
Talking to mediapersons here, Natarajan said that the Chief minister of Uttarakhand had a different point of view vis-a-vis the eco-sensitive zone notification issued on the basis of a recommendation made by the National Ganga River Basin Authority. “He (the Chief Minister) feels it (notification) will come in the way of development in the State,” she said.
“However, as the Minister for Environment, I feel it is an ecologically fragile zone and the eco-sensitive zone proposal needs to remain in place,” Natarajan said.
According to the minister, the National Ganga River Basin Authority headed by the Prime Minister came up with a recommendation that there be an eco-sensitive zone of 130 km from Gomukh where the Alaknanda begins, to Uttarkashi.
“The proposal was accepted and draft notification was put in place in 2011. later it became a final notification, therefore that notification is in force,” she said.