Up to 2 km Panchkula area around Sukhna Lake declared eco-sensitive zone
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has finally issued a notification demarcating an area from 1 km to 2.035 km around the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) on the Haryana side in Panchkula district for the purpose of preventing, controlling and abating environment pollution.
The ministry has turned down the proposal of the Haryana Government that area of 1 km around the sanctuary on its side be delineated as an ESZ.
Extent and boundaries
The ESZ in general extends up to 1 km from the boundary of the sanctuary on the Haryana side. It is further extended to 2 km in the reserved forest on the northern side. On the eastern side, the ESZ boundary is mostly 1 km, running along the boundary of the reserved forest. However, it is extended on the south-eastern side to make it co-terminus with the boundary of the reserved forest. The total area of the ESZ is 24.60 sq km.
The area of the ESZ will be 6078.98 acres (2460.07 hectares). The ESZ will include area comprising Sector 1 and part of Sector 2 and 3, including Gymkhana Club under the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), some tubewell chambers, paragliding parks and area under Sector 1 of the Mansa Devi Complex (MDC), area under Chandimandir Cantonment (small arms firing range of military station at Chandimandir, Central Soil & Water Conservation Research Farm and part of area under the Municipal Corporation of Panchkula.
As per the notification, of the 10 villages, namely Prempura, Sokhomajri, Damala, Lohgarh, Manakpur Thakardas, Surajpur, Chandimandir Kotla, Darra Kharauni, Rampur, Saketri and Mahadevpur, that fall in the ESZ, Saketri and Prempura fall within a radius of 700 m from the boundary of the sanctuary.
Banned, regulated activities
All activities in the ESZ will be governed by the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the rules made there. The prohibited activities include commercial mining, stone quarrying and crushing units, setting of new saw mills, setting of industries causing pollution (water, air, soil, noise, etc), use or production or processing of any hazardous substances, commercial use of firewood, discharge of untreated effluents in natural water bodies or land area, etc.
Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary is under the control of the Chandigarh Administration and shares boundary with Punjab and Haryana. The sanctuary is located in Shivalik foothills which are ecologically sensitive and geologically unstable. The total area of the sanctuary is 25.9849 sq km. To protecting, propagating and developing wildlife and its habitat, this area was declared as wildlife sanctuary vide Chandigarh Administration in 1998.
In 2020, the Punjab and Haryana High Court declared Sukhna Lake a living entity and directed the Environment Ministry to declare at least 1 km area from the sanctuary’s boundary in both states as ESZ.
Way paved for new Haryana Vidhan Sabha building
Former Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta claimed that the ministry has given environment and forest clearance to 12-acre land in Saketri to be swapped with 10-acre land for the proposed Assembly building in the UT, which is near the railway station light point in Chandigarh. The 12-acre land in Saketri is out of the ambit of the ESZ, says Gupta, adding that he had raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for the construction of a new Assembly building. The allocation of land for the Haryana Assembly building in Chandigarh was announced by Shah on July 9, 2022.
