New Delhi:
As many as 275 zones around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in India have been declared as 'ecologically sensitive' and the figure includes six in Gujarat. The declaration has been approved by the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Union Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar informed the same in the Rajya Sabha on Monday in reply to a question raised by Parimal Nathwani from Jharkhand.
According to Prakash Javadekar, total 282 proposals were received for the status of eco-sensitive zones from various states and out of it 275 were approved. In Gujarat, the eco-sensitive zones that are identified include Marine National Park and Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Narayan Sarovar Wildlife Sanctuary, Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Vansda National Park and Thol Wildlife Sanctuary.
215 of the eco-sensitive zones have been notified in the Gazette of India, said Javadekar, adding out of these 183 are draft notifications and 32 are final notifications.
"Eco-sensitive zone is to conserve bio-diversity and endangered wildlife and protect the environment around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as a safety zone, without impeding legitimate socio-economic development of the area," said Javadekar.
