Centre accepts Rajasthan’s proposal to alter gharial sanctuary boundary

The Centre denotified 732 hectares of the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary in Kota after the Rajasthan Government proposed to alter the boundary of India’s sole gharial sanctuary to meet rising urbanisation needs.

For several years, people living on the banks of the sanctuary could not obtain lease deeds and land titles as the area fell on the forest land.

The state had sought to denotify 1,451.38 hectares but a committee of officials from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Wildlife Institute of India and state forest department visited the sanctuary and prepared the report.

Based on the report, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) recommended that there is no need to remove those areas from forest which are not inhabited by humans.

During site inspection by the officials, it was noted that sewage from Kota city was directly discharged into the Chambal river posing serious risks to the aquatic ecology. It recommended urgent establishment of water treatment plants and sustainable waste management system.

The state has not declared an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around the sanctuary. It argued that residential colonies, government establishments, schools, colleges and thermal power plants, which are also part of the sanctuary, have come up on the revenue land. If an ESZ of 1 km was declared, much of Kota would fall within the prohibited and regulated area, it said.

The wildlife panel recommended to the state government that the ESZ may be proposed in a way that it did not include urban expansion. “By doing so, the designation of the ESZ will not impose restrictions or regulatory measures on nearby urban populations, thereby safeguarding both the interests of local residents and the objectives of sanctuary conservation,” the minutes of the meeting of SC-NBWL said.