Strong discontent prevails in Paithan and its adjoining villages against the proposed Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ). Fear gripped the people, mostly farmers, who believe they would be uprooted from their native place.
AURANGABAD: Strong discontent prevails in Paithan and its adjoining villages against the proposed Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ). Fear gripped the people, mostly farmers, who believe they would be uprooted from their native place.
Environmentalists, particularly Nisarg Mitra Mandal, working for preservation of birds found here due to the Jayakwadi irrigation dam, situated near Paithan, are especially agitated.
For a year now, the protesters have been staging dharnas, taking out morchas, holding road-blockades, hunger-strike, signature campaign and making representations to the state and national leaders, urging them to cancel the Bird Sanctuary and the proposed ESZ projects.
The issue was also raised in the state assembly. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh supported the public demand and asked the administration to submit an affidavit before the Centrally Empowered Committee headed by Jay Krishnan that Paithan is not a suitable site for ESZ. But no action was taken.
The Forest Department had issued a notification for creating a bird sanctuary on October 10, 1986. But the local people were not aware of it. They came to know when the forest department did not allow them to install a statue of former Maharashtra CM Shankarrao Chavan in the Dynaneshwar Udyan situated at the bottom of Jayakwadi dam.
Five writ petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by different organisations. One of the petitions was filed by Goa Foundation resulted in a show cause notice to the Union government, asking why 35 birds sanctuaries and six national parks should not be brought under the purview of ESZ across the country as demanded by the petitioners.
The Supreme Court then appointed a Centrally-Empowered Committee on May 9, 2002, under the chairmanship of P V Jay Krishnan to look into the matter and submit its report to the Supreme Court.
In a meeting of the National Board for Wildlife held on March 17, 2005, and presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to augment the conservation of the existing protected areas.
“However, the delineation of eco-sensitive zones would have to be site-specific, and related to regulation rather than prohibition of specific activities. State government will have to be consulted in this regard and concurrence obtained. This being an area of potential conjunct with local communities, no enhancement of area should be done arbitrarily,” the minutes of the meeting said.
The restrictions in ESZ include a ban on any inhabitation in the 10-km radius, water-pumping, discharge of water into canals, cattle-grazing, cultivation and use of pesticide and transportation.
Implementation of ESZ in Paithan will require the town to shift out of the 10 km radius and the 28 adjoining villages that have been rehabilitated here earlier would need to be rehabilitated.
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