Ministry to hold joint meeting of Punjab, Haryana, UT

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16

The Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change will hold a joint meeting of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to sort out the contentious issues regarding the catchment area and notification on eco-sensitive zone around Sukhna Lake.

While talking to The Tribune today on the sidelines of a regional conference on wetland, Manju Pandey, Joint Secretary of the Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said the Ministry would call the meeting over the issue to protect Sukhna Lake.

While appreciating the beauty of the lake, she said any issues that required the intervention of the Ministry would be sorted out in the joint meeting. It would take the judicious decision as per its mandate.

Punjab has been delaying the notification to declare eco-sensitive zone around the lake in its area for the past five years. While the Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change had notified an area of 1,050 hectares, 2 km to 2.75 km from the boundary of the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary in the UT, as an eco-sensitive zone in 2017, Punjab and Haryana have been delaying the notification.

The decision of the Supreme Court to scrap the Tata Camelot high-rise township project recently had also vindicated the stand of the Administration. The Administration also took up the issues with Punjab and Haryana for the notification.

The Punjab Government sent a proposal to keep the buffer zone within 100 meters from the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, which had not been

accepted by the Ministry and directions were issued to resubmit a proposal for at least 1 km buffer zone. But the Punjab Government is yet to forward the revised proposal to the Ministry.

Ajay Jagga, who vehemently opposed the Tata Project, said: “It was incumbent upon the state of Punjab to send a proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), as required, but it appears that it has not chosen to do so.

The Administration has also issued a draft notification to declare the lake a wetland in pursuance of the Wetlands (Conservation & Management) Rules, 2017 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

While Chandigarh has done so, Punjab and Haryana are yet to start the process. The area of the wetland comprises 565 acres while part of the catchment area falling within the UT jurisdiction as zone of influence spreads over an area of 7185.824 acres. Of the total catchment area, hilly catchment area is 6,281.419 acres, while 904.406 acres fall under agricultural use.