Panaji, Aug 30 - Contrary to assurances given by the Goa government to crack down on rampant mining in forest areas, its report submitted to the union Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended drastic reduction of eco fragile zones near wildlife sanctuaries.

Environmentalists as well as opposition parties have slammed the government over the report on eco fragile zone.

Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Shashi Kumar told IANS that the report, which was prepared by former state revenue secretary Rajiv Yaduvanshi, had, in fact, recommended in some cases doing away completely with the buffer zones around wildlife sanctuaries like Netravali, Bhagwan Mahavir and Mhadei favouring their reduction to 'zero metres'.

'The gist of the report, which is pending with the central government for approval, is that the area and extent of eco sensitive zones will be decided on a case to case basis,' Kumar said. The buffer zones were earlier five kilometres.

In some cases, the buffer zones around these sanctuaries will be reduced to less than five kilometres and in some to zero metres, he said. 'We have asked the centre to expedite a decision on the report. We are sending them constant reminders to inform us about the status of the report,' Kumar said.

The report, after conducting field inspections, has also recommended that the entire buffer zone along the Netravali and Bhagwan Mahavir wildlife sanctuaries, which are located along the state's eastern border, shared with Karnataka, be reduced to 'zero metres'.