The Centre today said it had received a total of 416 proposals from States and Union Territories for declaration of eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) around national parks and sanctuaries.
"As on date, 416 proposals for declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones around National Parks and Sanctuaries have been received from various states and Union Territories, including 27 proposals from Rajasthan," Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
He said that final notifications for declaration of ESZs around eight national parks and wildlife sanctuaries had been issued by his ministry.
The newly notified areas are Sultanpur ESZ (Haryana), Dalma ESZ (Jharkhand), Bandipur ESZ (Karnataka) and five in Gujarat -- Girnar, Narayan Saovar, Purna, Vansda, and Marine National Park and Marine National Sanctuary ESZ.
In reply to another question, the minister said proposals for 15 projects of various sectors were under consideration of the ministry for grant of environment clearance and 14 others for grant of forest clearance from North-eastern states including Assam.
He said that, to expedite the process of environmental clearance, the ministry has taken certain steps like regular and longer meetings of Expert Appraisal Committee, regular monitoring of status of pending projects, online submission of application for environment clearance, constitution of state level environment impact assessment authorities.
In another reply, he said that the central zoo authority has received a total of 21 proposals from various states, including two from Uttar Pradesh, for establishments of zoos. While four of the proposals have come from Maharashtra, three have come from Karnataka, he said.
