The Supreme Court has declared a 10-kilometre area around 21 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries situated in eight states as eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) after the respective state governments which were supposed to demarcate this area failed to do so for the past 12 years.
Of the 662 national parks and sanctuaries in the country, 641 have a well-defined ESZ while 21 do not. The Central government told the apex court that although a general guideline exists of keeping the 10-kilometre area around wildlife parks and sanctuaries as standard ESZ, states claimed this area to be too big. The Centre asked the states to suggest site-specific ESZ for all national parks and sanctuaries. Responses were received for 641 parks/sanctuaries but 21 were such where states failed to specify any ESZ. Taking note of this laxity, the Court tentatively fixed 10-kilometre ESZ and asked the Centre to issue a formal notification in this regard at the earliest.
The order implies that any activity in and around the 10-kilometre radius of the 21 wildlife parks will require permission from the State and National Wildlife Board. This step is seen as a major initiative to restore and preserve the flora and fauna of the region and avoid man-animal conflict.
The matter came up before Court in a PIL filed by Goa Foundation. The bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur observed that 12 years have already gone by and the Centre cannot afford to wait anymore. The Centre is expected to inform the Court about compliance in February 2019 when the matter will come up for hearing.
The Centre in its guidelines for declaration of eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) around these 662 protected flora and fauna zones, had fixed 10 kilometres as the general norm for determining ESZ but state governments objected as this formula caught under its fold several urban habitations situated close to the national parks and sanctuaries.
NATIONAL PARKS GET ECO-SENSITIVE ZONES
662 – Protected flora and fauna zones
104 – Number of national parks
558 – Number of wildlife sanctuaries
IMPORTANT NATIONAL PARKS/WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES
Pilibhit Tiger Sanctuary – Uttar Pradesh
Dr Ambedkar Bird Sanctuary – Pratapgarh, UP
Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary – Maharashtra
Malvan Marine Sanctuary – Maharashtra
Deolgaon-Rehekuri Blackbuck Sanctuary – Maharashtra
Yadahalli Chinkara Sanctuary – Karnataka
Thimmalapura Bear Sanctuary – Karnataka
Hemis National Park – J&K (famous for snow leopards)
Changthang Sanctuary – J&K (famous for Tibetan wild ass)
Pobitora Sanctuary – Assam (home to great Indian one-horned rhinoceros)
Sirohi National Park – Manipur (famous for its exotic lilies)
Baghmara Pitcher Plant Sanctuary – Meghalaya
Pulie Badze Sanctuary – Nagaland (home to rare bird species)
Jorpokhri Sanctuary – West Bengal (famous for rare Himalayan Salamander)
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