Tungareshwar and Tansa wildlife sanctuaries to get safety zones

While the total protected area (PA) of TWLS is 85.70 sq km, the ESZ is spread across 67.26 sq. km with its radius ranging from 100 metres to 4 km around the boundary of the sanctuary.

The ministry of environment forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has approved the final notification to create a protective, eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWLS) and Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary in Palghar and Thane districts of Maharashtra.

The ministry of environment forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has approved the final notification to create a protective, eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWLS) and Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary in Palghar and Thane districts of Maharashtra.

Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted on Friday: “I have approved final ESZ notification in respect of TWLS in Maharashtra.” Javadekar added, “This will help scientific conservation of eco-systems and at the same time will give relief to farmers, artisans, rural people, small businesses in the areas between final ESZ and 10 km from the protected areas, which was banned earlier.”

The state confirmed the same. “The minister has approved the final ESZ notifications for Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. However, it will take a few weeks before the notifications are published in the official gazette,” said an MoEFCC official.

While the total protected area (PA) of TWLS is 85.70 sq km, the ESZ is spread across 67.26 sq. km with its radius ranging from 100 metres to 4 km around the boundary of the sanctuary. For Tansa, the total PA is 304.81 sq km while notified ESZ is 490.29 sq km ranging between 250m and 9km around the PA including 156 villages. Establishing an ESZ around a wildlife area helps conserve the ecosystem since only agriculture, small scale industries and minor infrastructure work are permitted in an ESZ.

“The final notification enhances protection for this zone and the monitoring committee will ensure proper enforcement of allowed, regulated or prohibited activities in the ESZ,” said Swapnil Deshbrathar, officer on special duty (wildlife wing), Mantralaya. In December 2018, the Supreme Court had issued a directive that the Union environment ministry should declare ESZs around 21 national park and wildlife sanctuaries that do not have buffer zones. Maharashtra had proposed an ESZ around Tungareshwar and Tansa forests and had created a draft notification by August 2016.

“A presentation was made before the technical committee (ESZ) on July 18 by me. They heard the state’s stand and whatever queries the committee had were answered. Following this, the committee accepted the Tungareshwar proposal but directed some changes for Tansa,” said Jitendra Ramgaonkar, deputy conservator of forest, Thane. “A lot of time has passed since the draft was sent to the ministry and after several deliberations; publishing the notification was just a formality.”