New Delhi, May 8 (PTI): Delhi High Court has sought the Centre's response on a plea against a notification, which reduces the area of the ecologically sensitive zone (ESZ) at Chandaka elephant sanctuary in the state.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra issued notices to the environment ministry, National Board for Wildlife, department of forest and environment and Odisha government on the petition which claimed that the concept of the ESZ around the sanctuary has been "compromised", increasing the probability of man-animal conflict.
The court has listed the matter for hearing on October 16. "The government in its September 9, 2016, notification directed for reduction in the lower limit of the extent of the eco-sensitive zone to 500 metres from 2 km and higher limit from 8.99 km to 7.34 km in violation of its own guidelines," the petitioner's counsel Saraswata Mohapatra submitted. The plea by social activist Tapan Kumar Chakrabarti said the expert panel constituted by the Centre to identify the ecologically sensitive areas in the country had strongly stressed the need of the ESZ to act as shock absorber against the adverse effects of developmental activities impacting the habitat of flora and fauna.
"It also opined to extend the limits of the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary to 2 km-10 km according to the ecological sustainability of the landscape," the plea said.
It has alleged that the principal secretary of the state forest department had asked the divisional forest officer of Chandaka to revise the ESZ boundary merely at the behest of the state developers such as Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha and the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to suit their vested interests.
The petition said that the notification diluted the concern for the protection of wild animals in the sanctuary especially when the population of elephants had been continuously dwindling over the past few years. It has said that the Centre gravely erred in approving the suggestions of the state government, overriding guidelines laid down by its own committee.
