The Daily Populous

Regarding restriction on mining activities within one km from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, the Bench said, “It has been the consistent view of this court that mining activities within one km of the protected area will be hazardous to the wildlife.

“We direct that mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within an area of one km from the boundary of such national park or wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible," the Bench said, citing the top court’s order dated April 26, 2023.

The verdict came on petitions raising issues related to the notification of areas under Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary (SWL) and the Sasangdaburu Conservation Reserve (SCR) as a conservation reserve in Jharkhand.

The proposal to notify the Saranda and Sasangdaburu forest areas in West Singhbhum district as a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve respectively has been pending for years.

Directing the Jharkhand Government to notify the region as a wildlife sanctuary, the top court clarified that the rights of tribal people and forest dwellers in the region should be protected as per the Forest Rights Act.

It had contended that the move would help safeguard their forest rights and protect schools and educational institutions already existing within that region.

However, in an affidavit before the top court, it submitted that an area of 57,519.41 hectares was erroneously arrived at and the area of 31,468.25 hectares will be notified as a wildlife sanctuary. »