Centre marks buffer zone around Sanjay Gandhi National Park, allows construction work

The Union environment ministry on December 5 issued a notification, demarcating an area upto a radius of 4km around Sanjay Gandhi National Park, (SGNP) Borivli, as a buffer zone, where construction work as per law could be carried out. It has declared the area an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ)

Published on: Dec 7, 2016, 09:54:54 IST

Hindustan Times | By Snehal Fernandes, Mumbai

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The Union environment ministry on December 5 issued a notification, demarcating an area upto a radius of 4km around Sanjay Gandhi National Park, (SGNP) Borivli, as a buffer zone, where construction work as per law could be carried out. It has declared the area an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ).

The move has come as a relief to real estate developers and buyers.

Allowing new construction and under construction projects as per provisions of the law up to a radius of four kilometres from the boundary of the park, the notification permits “new construction projects such as the Mumbai Metro rail shed (in Aarey Colony), new civic amenities such as water supply related infrastructure and facilities, and operation and maintenance of infrastructure, civic amenities sanctioned by the concerned local self government under the approved Development Plan under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, may be permitted within the ESZ, subject to rules and regulations.”

The notification came after responses from various stakeholders at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, and elected representatives to the draft notification on January 1. The ministry has excluded 65 sq km land for the Metro III car shed and temple in the notification.

“Making special provisions for the Metro III car shed is a mockery of the entire notification, whose intention is to destroy and not protect,” said Stalin D of Vanashakti, an NGO. “It’s an absurd document, made for ecologically sensitive areas where what exists is not allowed, and what is proposed is allowed.”

A total of 41 villages and townships fall under the ESZ that comprises 19.25 sq km forest land and 40.21 sq km non-forest land.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Snehal Fernandes
Snehal Fernandes is senior associate editor, who joined HT in 2006. She heads the Mumbai edition’s city reporting team that writes on civic and urban governance, transport and infrastructure, health, and education. She is also the National Science Editor. With a career spanning more than two decades, her expertise lies in writing on science and technology, space, environment, sustainable development, climate change, and nuclear energy. Her work consistently breaks down, and without oversimplyfying, science and research developments into an easy read for a broad audience. In 2009, she was among the very first journalist to report on the opposition to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Ratnagiri (Konkan) following the Indo- US civil nuclear agreement and consistently followed it with multiple stories from ground zero; wrote about the introduction and subsequent halt to the cultivation of genetically modified (BT) brinjal, and has interviewed Nobel laureates and award winning scientists. In 2012, she was awarded ‘The Press Club Award for Excellence in Journalism’ (Political category) for reports on the mining scam in Goa. Prior to HT, she wrote on education and transport at the Indian Express. She graduated in sociology from St Xavier's College, and firmly believes in the phrase by Karl Marx that ‘Religion is the opium of the people’. When she is not keeping a tab on the going-ons in Mumbai and the scientific world, you'll find her reading world news, or watching crime/espionage series or political dramas. She can repeatedly watch Kill Bill with the same interest as Planet of the Apes and Spiderman. For someone who was not remotely interested in dogs or cats, she loves every bit of her time with her two-year-old Indie cat Bunny.Read More