A meeting convened by Forest Minister AK Saseendran on Thursday decided to set up special committees to formulate draft guidelines for exempting human settlements in Pambavalley, Angelvalley villages in Kottayam district and Thattekad village in Ernakulam district from the buffer zone limits of the respective nature reserves.
According to the minister, the committees will collect feedback from locally elected representatives, prepare draft guidelines and submit them to the government for detailed consideration before handing them over to the National Wildlife Board. “The committees will be chaired by the forest minister and will include the concerned legislators, ward members from district and block panchayats as well as presidents and ward members of the respective grama panchayats. The chief wildlife warden will be the convener of the committees,” the minister said in an official statement on Thursday.
Earlier, the state government had submitted proposals to the Union government and the National Wildlife Refuge to exclude these areas from the buffer zones of the respective wildlife sanctuaries. The preparation and submission of draft guidelines is part of the full implementation of this recommendation.
While Thattekad settlement lies within the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Pambavalli and Angelvalley settlements are located inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
About the use of real estate
During the meeting, the forest minister reiterated that the state government was not willing to impose any restrictions on the free use of property by residents in these areas as proposed by the Union government. Poonjar legislator Sebastian Kulathunkal and Kothamangalam MLA Antony John were also present.
Officials from the forest department who attended the meeting included Additional Chief Secretary Minhaj Alam, Chief Wildlife Warden Pramod G. Krishnan and Periyar Tiger Conservation Foundation Field Director PP Pramod, among others.
Published – 19 Feb 2026 20:31 IST