Chandigarh: Chandigarh Administration has written to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Moefcc) to accelerate the process of telling the environmental sensitive zone (ESZ) around Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary for areas that fall in Punjab and Haryana.
In 2017, the UT government had been told to leave a radius of 2 to 2.75 kilometers from Sanctuary as an environmental sensitive zone.
Head of UT Debendra Dalai Forest Conservator, in a recent letter to the Ministry, confirmed that the area falling in Punjab and Haryana had not been told.
UT also said that 90% of the area dropped in two countries, then to protect it, it was important to immediately notify Esz.
Recently, Dharam PAL’s advisor has directed the UT and wildlife Department officials to take this issue with the union government for the early declaration of ESZ.
Last year, at a meeting organized by the MoeFCC Wildlife Division to discuss issues related to the management of forests and wildlife carried out in the state and Union state, the UT government had submitted a request to declare Esz at the beginning of Sugar Wildlife Sukhna.
The ministry issued a final notice for Chandigarh, while Punjab and Haryana until now have not stated such zones in their respective regions.
Chandigarh administration, in the past also, has urged the two countries to regulate human activities in the catchment area because the Supreme Court also upholds that large construction should not be left close to the sanctuary.
In December 2019, UT had urged the ministry to speed up the ESZ process.
Haryana recently planned to declare an area ranging from 1 to 1.5 km with Esz and also looking for comments from the department concerned.
UT government has opposed the Punjab government proposal to declare only 100m Esz by his side.
The Ministry said ESZ was only for UTON January 25, 2017, the Ministry of the Union had issued an ESZ notice for Chandigarh.
On September 17, 2015, the Ministry has issued a notification concept only for the sanctuary area that falls under UT and not for parts under Punjab and Haryana.
After that, UT has submitted its objections, urging the ministry to issue notifications for all ESZ to protect the sanctuary, which 90% of the area fell under the jurisdiction of Punjab and Haryana.