India News | Environmentalists Urge Centre to Scrap Sariska Boundary Change Proposal

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) A group of environmentalists, researchers and retired Indian Forest Service officers has written to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and the National Tiger Conservation Authority, demanding that the proposal to redraw the boundaries of Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan be scrapped.

The collective, under the banner of "People for Aravallis", warned that it could pave the way for the revival of closed mining operations and endanger the reserve's ecological integrity.

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In a representation, the group expressed "grave concerns" over the proposal, which was approved by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) in a meeting on June 26.

"It is claimed that the proposed plan is an attempt to 'rationalise the boundaries of the reserve' to balance the ecological needs of the region with its economic development. In reality, if implemented, this proposed rationalisation plan would have disastrous consequences in the ecologically sensitive Aravalli region," they wrote.

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They alleged that the boundary alteration would benefit mining interests by bringing nearly 50 closed marble, dolomite, limestone and masonic stone mines outside the one-kilometre radius of the critical tiger habitat (CTH) of the tiger reserve.

"57 such mines located within a 1 km radius of the present Critical Tiger Habitat were closed down as a result of the May 2024 directive of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. If the boundaries are redrawn as proposed, it will put around 50 closed mines outside the 1 km zone from the boundary, thereby providing a way for the miners to resume mining," the representation read.

The group said this would "reward violators of the law" and sets a dangerous precedent for similar illegalities to be legitimised in all other protected areas across India.

The Standing Committee of the NBWL had approved a proposal to increase the CTH from 881.11 sq km to 924.49 sq km and reduce the buffer area from 245.72 sq km to 203.20 sq km, with the total notified area changing slightly from 1,126.83 sq km to 1,127.68 sq km.

While the committee cited ecological logic and the need to correct discrepancies in earlier demarcations, the environmentalists said the trade-off undermines crucial tiger habitat.

"48.39 sq kms human impacted area in the hilly terrain of the Tehla tehsil that is proposed for exclusion is critical for the internal movement of the tigers," the group noted.

"A tigress (ST-30) was recently spotted in April 2025 with her three newborn cubs in the very corridor that the new proposal seeks to remove from the critical tiger habitat."

"Adding 90.91 sq kms cannot be a justification for removing 48.39 sq kms of already protected area which also acts as an important wildlife corridor connecting Sariska to Jamwa Ramgarh, Dausa and Sawai Madhopur," the signatories argued.

Calling the proposal "extremely unsound from both the legal as well as the ecological lens", the group demanded that it be scrapped.

The group further recommended increasing the buffer zone beyond the current one-kilometre radius and regulating human activities within it.

The representation recalled Sariska's legacy as a landmark in Indian wildlife conservation, citing the extinction of its tiger population in 2004 due to poaching and the subsequent successful reintroduction programme.

"21 years ago, in the year 2004, poaching resulted in all the 28 tigers in Sariska to be wiped out and their number reduced to zero. The news of tigers disappearing from Sariska created a nation-wide shock and led to the creation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority in 2005. Tigers were relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore and today after many years of successful conservation efforts, the tiger count in Sariska stands at a historic high of 49," it said.

The group warned that mining in an eco-sensitive zone like Sariska could cause irreversible harm.

Criticising the process, they said the proposal was passed by the Rajasthan State Wildlife Board and the NBWL "in a rather hasty manner without any public consultation, in contravention of the principles of participatory democracy".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)