No development zone around national parks - MEF, GOI
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`No-development zone' around parks planned
The Times of India News Service NEW DELHI, May 21.
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The ministry of environment and forest, on Tuesday, stated before the Delhi
high court that it fully endorsed the idea that a five-km radius around
national sanctuaries and national parks should be declared as
``no-development zone.''
In an affidavit filed before a division bench comprising chief justice M.
Jagannadha Rao and justice Dalveer Bhandari, the ministry has made this
statement.
On April 11, 1994, the high court had appointed a high-powered committee
which included standing counsel for the Central government Madan Lokur and
counsel Raj Panjwani of the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-I), among
others.
The committee had made a strong recommendation for a ``no-development zone''
around national parks and sanctuaries. It was recommended that within five
kilometres radius of the sanctuaries and parks no factory or industry should
be allowed to come up.
In addition to this, Mr Panjwani had suggested that no polluting industry
should be allowed to grow within the vicinity of 25 km of the national parks
and sanctuaries. He had contended that when Batkal lake and Suraj Kund have
been provided these protections on the basis of being tourist centres, then
why should not sanctuaries be accorded the same protection.
Mr Panjwani had earlier suggested several recommendations to implement the
findings of the committee, one of which was notifying a 25-km radius of the
national parks where no polluting industry should be permitted to operate.
The ministry also said no new industry should be allowed to operate in the
vicinity of these parks and sanctuaries and that a committee appointed by it
under chairmanship of Ranjit Singh was looking into the matter.
The ministry was, however, reluctant to move out the existing industries
within a five-km radius of the wild life habitats on the plea that it would
cause unemployment and hardships to the entrepreneurs.
Mr Panjwani had stated in the petition filed by the WWF that the major
threat to the wild life sanctuaries was the inhabitants whose right had not
yet been settled regarding compensatory land and right to grazing of their
livestock.
He stated that though the last notification regarding a major national park
or sanctuary came way back in 1983, the rights of even 20 per cent of the
inhabitants were yet to be settled.
The committee had suggested that the settlement question be entrusted to a
person not less than the rank of a deputy conservator of forests instead of
chief revenue officer of a district as at present.
It felt that the chief revenue officer was too much involved in revenue and
other projects and could not pay much attention to the settlement questions.
The ministry also admitted that there existed an exhaustive guideline
regarding making a 25-km radius of a sanctuary, pollution free. But it said
that these guidelines were not backed up by legal sanctions.
Among the important suggestions made by the committee appointed by the high
court to save the wild life and their habitats, some important ones were:
Create a separate ministry for natural resources (forests and wild life).
All state wild life advisory boards must be constituted and must meet
regularly. Honorary wild life wardens must be appointed.
Create wild life wings in Indian state forest services.
Ensure All-India Forest Service as well as state forest officers, foresters
and forest guards receive wild life training which should be specialised for
those operating for wild life wings.
Increase India's protected area network to 7.5 per cent by 2000 A.D.
Divide India into five wild life zones and have action plan for each with
implementing authority at zonal and state-levels.
Improve anti-poaching measures and reduce pressure of urbanisation and
economic development on wild life habitats.
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