Kendrapara, July 27: The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change has issued an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) notification across 192 villages on the fringes of the Bhitarkanika National Park.

The ministry has categorised a 446.4-sqkm patch across villages around the national park and the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone.

The notified areas will now come under the stringent provisions of environment protection law, a national park official said. Predictably, the affected people are not happy with the move.

With the notification prohibiting and regulating 33 categories of human activities within the proposed ESZ, people living on the fringes of the park are apprehensive about the move.

Provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, would govern all activities within the protected area. The 11 human activities to be prohibited are commercial mining, stone quarrying and crushing, sawmill construction, construction of industries causing water, air, soil or noise pollution, commercial use of firewood, establishment of new major hydroelectric projects, use of plastic bags, use or production of any hazardous substance, undertaking activities related to tourism such as flying over the national park by aircraft or hot air balloons, discharge of untreated effluents and solid waste into the water and on land and construction of new wood-based industries.

The activities that are going to be regulated are tree-felling, commercial establishment of hotels and resorts, commercialisation of water such as ground water harvesting, erection of electric cables and telecommunication towers, widening of existing roads and construction of new roads, movement of vehicles, including boats, during the night, commercial signboards and hoardings, collection of forest produce or non-timber forest produce, eco-tourism facilities such as home stays, ropeways, kiosks and security forces camp.

"It would severely curtail the villagers' livelihood options. The day-to-day lives of people in these areas are to be severely affected because of the various forms of prohibitive measures. No new construction can take place in the areas, according to ESZ provisions. Construction of new roads has been made illegal. Development projects would come to a standstill. The implementation of the ESZ cover is bound to trigger resentment and conflict among the local residents," said Rajnagar MLA Anshuman Mohanty.

"Conserving the fragile ecosystem of Bhitarkanika is of paramount importance. It needs to be protected for posterity. But, that should not be done at the cost basic human needs and requirement of the local residents," Mohanty said. He added that the ESZ rules prohibit the movement of cars and boats at night. "Consequently, sick people would have to wait till the next morning to go to a hospital. Public interest must be prioritised before enforcing the ESZ cover."

The park's protected area is treated as a unit for identifying eco-sensitive zone. The protected areas have estuarine and marine ecosystems. The rich biodiversity can be gauged from the presence of 61 species invertebrates, vertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The sanctuary is ranked among the top forest areas with 71 categories of mangrove species. It also has the largest natural population of estuarine crocodiles. The adjoining Gahirmatha marine sanctuary is home to olive ridley sea turtles. It has been attributed as the state's second Ramsar International wetland site, the notification read.

However, many local residents are little aware of the complexities and penal provisions of the environment law.

Gupti gram panchayat sarpanch Sharada Lenka said: "The forest department is yet to inform us about the ESZ limits. The existing forest laws, which are strictly enforced here, have already made life difficult for us. The ESZ tag will only add to our plight."

Rangani gram panchayat sarpanch Sudhir Chandra Pala echoed Lenka's words. "People are not aware of the notification. However, we have heard that the government is going to clamp further restrictions on us. The move will face public resistance," said Pradip Das, a resident of Dangmal village.

"The central government has issued the ESZ notification. However, public grievances would be duly heard and taken care of," said Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest officer Bimal Prasanna Acharya.