HYDERABAD: As the 60-day period to raise objections with Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over proposed Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of KBR National Park, an online petition was launched by a collective of people from the city. In a span of few hours, the petition managed to garner as many as 802 signatures.
The petition titled ‘Declare 1 km Eco Sensitive Zone for KBR National Park instead of shrinking it!’ was started on Change.org by a collective, Citizens for Hyderabad. It will be sent to the Secretary of MoEF and to the Chairman of Expert Appraisal Committee on ESZ at the Ministry.
The MoEF had released a draft notification on October 31 proposing ESZ of KBR National Park to be demarcated as 3-29.8 metres from the national park’s boundary. This would result in narrowing down the existing 25-35 metre wide walkway around the park to as much as 3 metre at some stretches and would also result in chopping down of many trees.
ESZ is an area demarcated around a protected forest area like a sanctuary or a national park, that is expected to provide a buffer zone for conservation of the protected area through regulating various activities like construction, infrastructure development, establishment of commercial units, industries or mines. The petition demands that the draft notification be amended to declare ESZ of the park to at least 1 km.