75% of 2012 proposed area out of Tungareshwar ESZ

In 2012 and 2015, the Maharashtra government had proposed 282 square kilometres (sq km) around TWLS be notified as ESZ as per the Supreme Court (SC) guideline that national parks and sanctuaries should have a 10-km buffer zone.

Less than one-fourth of the originally-proposed area has been notified by the Centre as the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWLS). While activists have alleged the reduced area is to ensure infrastructure projects in the area aren’t held up on environmental grounds, the forest department has said the original proposal was “unrealistic”.

According to the notification made public on Tuesday, the final ESZ will comprise 67.26sq km around TWLS, with an extent ranging from a minimum of 100 metres to a maximum of four kilometres, based on a revised proposal sent by the state in 2016. (HT FILE)

In 2012 and 2015, the Maharashtra government had proposed 282 square kilometres (sq km) around TWLS be notified as ESZ as per the Supreme Court (SC) guideline that national parks and sanctuaries should have a 10-km buffer zone. HT had reported on August 10 that Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar had approved the ESZ notification for the sanctuaries at Tansa and Tungareshwar.

According to the notification made public on Tuesday, the final ESZ will comprise 67.26sq km around TWLS, with an extent ranging from a minimum of 100 metres to a maximum of four kilometres, based on a revised proposal sent by the state in 2016. The total protected area of TWLS is 85.70sq km. The ministry of environment forests and climate change (MoEFCC) had published the ESZ notification on September 11. “The proper ESZ area was suggested after taking all stakeholders into consideration and final approval from the Centre after due deliberations,” said Swapnil Deshbrathar, officer on special duty (wildlife), Mantralaya.

Along with maps identifying the exact ESZ, the latest notification includes a list of 37 villages within the ESZ and directions to ensure prohibited, regulated and permitted activities are overseen by a committee chaired by the Palghar district collector. Divisional forest officer of Sanjay Gandhi National Park will be member secretary. The state is to develop a zonal master plan for the ESZ within two years from September 11, demarcating existing areas along with plans to regulate development.

Deputy conservator of forest, Thane, Jitendra Ramgoankar said, “The state had instructed to reduce the 10-km buffer area as it was unrealistic to have a buffer area more than three times the size of the protected forest. The original proposal was erroneously prepared including a lot of private areas and changed accordingly.”

Environmentalists who moved court in January 2019 for the creation of the ESZ around TWLS, have alleged the reduced the area is to clear the way for new infrastructure projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and a dedicated freight corridor. “After local politicians started exerting pressure, the state sent a revised proposal reducing the ESZ expanse by 76%. This is just a token exercise of notifying the area as all kinds of activities will be allowed in the notified 67.26sq km,” said Stalin D, director, Vanashakti, one of the petitioners in the matter.

A member of ESZ technical committee under MoEFCC that finalised the proposal earlier this year said, “We had suggested increasing the ESZ extent towards the southern end and including fragmented forest towards the northwestern end of TWLS. However, forest officials pointed out that protected areas and ESZ of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) were in close proximity to the south boundary while the northern end had a large number of villages and private areas.”