MoEF agrees to keep one km near sanctuaries as buffer zone

Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has agreed to reserve one kilometre around wildlife sanctuaries of Goa as a buffer zone, giving the industry an option of phasing out existing mining leases in the buffer zone.

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar who had met Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar in Delhi on Thursday said today that the state government's demand of one km buffer zone and subsequent relief to the industry by allowing it to be phased out over a granted period of ten years, has been met.

MoEF will issue a notification in this regard within a fortnight, he said.

The notification will give relief to 32 mining leases which fall within one kilometre of sanctuaries like Mhadei, Mollem, Bondla and Netraveli.

According to the government records, 24 mining leases of the total 32, were operational when the Supreme Court had imposed ban in 2012.

The current notification will supersede the earlier draft notification by the previous UPA government which had imposed immediate ban on the mining leases within one kilometre of wildlife sanctuaries.