Supreme Court exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary from mandating the creation of a 1 km eco-sensitive zones around the protected area.
This is situated on a plateau east of Vasai and Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
It forms a corridor between the Borivali National Park and Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed all protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuaries across India to have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone of a minimum of 1 km starting from their demarcated boundaries.
The ESZs are set up around the protected areas as a “shock observer”.
They act as a transition zone from the areas with high protection to those having lesser protection.
The Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary in Mumbai are exempted earlier.