THANE: Recommended to receive a protective ring of 10 km, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park
may eventually get just a 500-metre buffer zone around its periphery.
Sanctuaries such as Bhimashankar in Pune district too may get the same
measure of protection, while others like Karnala near Panvel may have to
settle for 100 metres.
The abbreviated radii were suggested last month in a "realistic proposal" by an apex court-appointed Centrally Empowered Committee(CEC) after taking into account the Maharashtra government's submissions. It proposed restricting between 2 km and 100 metres development-proscribing green rings around the 47 national parks as well wildlife and marine sanctuaries in the state. This was a far cry from the Centre's 10km buffer plan. Now it is up to the Supreme Court to accept or decline the committee's figures.
The suggestions may offer hope to settlers and urbanization proponents in the state but dismayed conservationists. An environmentalist went so far as to call the move "disastrous".
The committee recommended that protected parks in Maharashtra be split into four categories and the radius of the safety zones be determined on the basis of the area of the sanctuary or the national park.
"Going by their proposal, an 'A' category forest, which encompasses an area of 500 sq km or above, will have a protective ring of 2 km around it. Parks with an area between 200 sq km and 500 sq km have been identified in 'B' category and allotted a buffer zone of 1 km," said a senior forest officer from Thane. "In the 'C' and 'D' categories—covering, respectively, an area of 100-200 sq km and 100 sq km or less—the proposed security zone is 500 metres and 100 metres from the boundary."
The official argued that the 10km protective eco-sensitive zone asked for by the Centre was difficult to implement, especially in the urban chaos of Mumbai and Thane.
Environmentalists, however, asserted that such broad categorization and use of one formula is likely to prove disastrous in the long run.
"It could perhaps be justified in areas around SGNP, but in dense forest areas like Pench and Tadoba, it is necessary to retain a protective ring of 10 km or more. An entire eco-system is dependent on these forests and the corridors linking them. If this is reduced to 2 km it will have a disastrous impact on the wildlife. Once they start chopping the area around the forest, it will be an irreversible process," said Dharmaraj Patil, a bio-diversity specialist.
Patil added that the authorities do not have a blueprint to keep buffer zones intact and no responsibility is affixed in cases of encroachments. "I am positive that in the next 10 years they will come up with a proposal to reduce this cover too."
Local BJP functionary Omprakash Sharma, however, said the newly-proposed buffer zones will have a positive impact on almost 300 villages in the tribal talukas of Mokhada, Jawahar and Shahapur. Sharma, who works in the tribal belt of Thane, maintained: "In these pockets, the tribals are farm dependent but the 10-km protective radius around Tungareshwar sanctuary had deprived them of their livelihood. They could not as much as dig a hole. Left with little option, they turned to nearby metros for employment. Now if the court relaxes the eco-sensitive zone, they can once again go back to cultivating their land."
The abbreviated radii were suggested last month in a "realistic proposal" by an apex court-appointed Centrally Empowered Committee(CEC) after taking into account the Maharashtra government's submissions. It proposed restricting between 2 km and 100 metres development-proscribing green rings around the 47 national parks as well wildlife and marine sanctuaries in the state. This was a far cry from the Centre's 10km buffer plan. Now it is up to the Supreme Court to accept or decline the committee's figures.
The suggestions may offer hope to settlers and urbanization proponents in the state but dismayed conservationists. An environmentalist went so far as to call the move "disastrous".
The committee recommended that protected parks in Maharashtra be split into four categories and the radius of the safety zones be determined on the basis of the area of the sanctuary or the national park.
"Going by their proposal, an 'A' category forest, which encompasses an area of 500 sq km or above, will have a protective ring of 2 km around it. Parks with an area between 200 sq km and 500 sq km have been identified in 'B' category and allotted a buffer zone of 1 km," said a senior forest officer from Thane. "In the 'C' and 'D' categories—covering, respectively, an area of 100-200 sq km and 100 sq km or less—the proposed security zone is 500 metres and 100 metres from the boundary."
The official argued that the 10km protective eco-sensitive zone asked for by the Centre was difficult to implement, especially in the urban chaos of Mumbai and Thane.
Environmentalists, however, asserted that such broad categorization and use of one formula is likely to prove disastrous in the long run.
"It could perhaps be justified in areas around SGNP, but in dense forest areas like Pench and Tadoba, it is necessary to retain a protective ring of 10 km or more. An entire eco-system is dependent on these forests and the corridors linking them. If this is reduced to 2 km it will have a disastrous impact on the wildlife. Once they start chopping the area around the forest, it will be an irreversible process," said Dharmaraj Patil, a bio-diversity specialist.
Patil added that the authorities do not have a blueprint to keep buffer zones intact and no responsibility is affixed in cases of encroachments. "I am positive that in the next 10 years they will come up with a proposal to reduce this cover too."
Local BJP functionary Omprakash Sharma, however, said the newly-proposed buffer zones will have a positive impact on almost 300 villages in the tribal talukas of Mokhada, Jawahar and Shahapur. Sharma, who works in the tribal belt of Thane, maintained: "In these pockets, the tribals are farm dependent but the 10-km protective radius around Tungareshwar sanctuary had deprived them of their livelihood. They could not as much as dig a hole. Left with little option, they turned to nearby metros for employment. Now if the court relaxes the eco-sensitive zone, they can once again go back to cultivating their land."
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