65 S Gujarat villages declared eco-sensitive

SURAT: Mining of natural resources can't be done in the 65 villages of the three districts of Dang, Navsari and Tapi of south Gujarat. No township and industrial estate can be set up in these villages, not even a thermal power station.

The construction projects will have to be smaller than 20,000 sq metre now on in the 40 villages of Dang, five in Vasda taluka of Navsari district and rest of Songadh, Utchal and Vyara talukas of Tapi district as they have been declared eco-sensitive by the Forest and Environment Ministry of the Union Government on November 13.

"This step is to protect the Western Ghats areas that fall in six states. This will help improve environment in these 65 villages of south Gujarat, which too are in Western Ghats," an official of Forest and Environment Ministry said.

Navsari district collector Sandhya Bhullar said, "We are yet to receive the Union ministry notification."

Dang district collector GR Chaudhary too said he has so far not received any communication in this regard declaring the villages in the district as eco-sensitive.

This announcement has created discontent among some sections of rural and tribal population in the three districts. "There is not much development in Dang compared to other districts.

Now if some villages in Dang are declared eco-sensitive, then the youth would be forced to migrate from there to some other place for employment opportunities. The issue of migration for employment is already acute in Dang," a young tribal from Ahwa said.