Panaji: Days after the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court submitted its recommendations on the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve, state chief minister Pramod Sawant said that they are yet to receive a copy of the report.
The CEC submitted its report before the Supreme Court on November 21, after the panel’s two members — Chandra Prakash Goyal and Sunil Limaye — met all stakeholders, including the NGO Goa Foundation.
The NGO — Goa Foundation — had filed a PIL in the high court, mandating that the state government declare the area a tiger reserve.
Talking to reporters in Panaji on Tuesday, Sawant said that the government will not comment on the matter unless they go through the findings of the report.
As far as the tiger reserve is concerned, till now we are yet to receive the report, Sawant said.
He said that once the government receives it, they will go through the recommendations.
We will go through the report and after that decide how to implement it. It is not fair for me to comment right now without going through the report, he said.
The Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee has recommended including protected areas contiguous with the core of the Kali Tiger Reserve and with relatively few households in the first phase of the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve.
The committee has also recommended to the apex court that the protected areas with significantly higher numbers of households, such as the southern part of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, should not be included in the first phase of the reserve.
