Mumbai: 'Eco-sensitive zone' soon around SGNP, says Prakash Javadekar

Even as environmentalists in the city are worried about increasing pressure from land sharks causing a hindrance to various projects around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Union environment and forest minister Prakash Javadekar announced that an 'eco-sensitive zone' (ESZ) around the park would be officially declared in a month.

Javadekar, who was at SGNP for a World Environment Day function on Sunday, declared at the event that the notification that is pending with the MoEF will be out in a month's time and the area around SGNP will be declared as an ESZ, which would help protect this urban forest better.

According to senior forest officials, there is no clarity at the moment on what amount of area around SGNP will form this ESZ, but it is certain that in the portion of land that is eventually declared to constitute the ESZ, activities like mining, pollution and creating industries will not be permitted, while commercial construction will be regulated within that portion.

Meanwhile, the minister was also briefed about how the park management had successfully adopted a pro-active approach to mitigate human-leopard conflict as well as about how SGNP partnered with citizens as well as researchers to initiate a highly successful campaign called 'Mumbaikars for SGNP'.

The team members who were part of Mumbaikars for SGNP, along with the leopard rescue team, were felicitated by Javadekar, who also said that support is being taken from various international agencies to fight poaching across the country.