Supreme Court Bans Mining Within 1 Km Of National Parks And Wildlife Sanctuaries

The Supreme Court on Thursday prohibited all mining operations within one kilometre of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, observing that such activities pose a threat to wildlife and protected ecosystems.

A bench of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran made the ruling while hearing petitions concerning the notification of areas under the Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary (SWL) and the Sasangdaburu Conservation Reserve (SCR) in Jharkhand.

“It has been the consistent view of this court that mining activities within one km of the protected area will be hazardous to the wildlife. Though in the case of Goa Foundation, the said directions were issued with respect to the State of Goa, we find that such directions need to be issued on a pan-India basis. We direct that mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within an area of one km from boundary of such national park or wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible,” the bench said.

According to PTI, the court also instructed the Jharkhand government to issue a notification declaring the Saranda region a wildlife sanctuary. It further emphasised that the rights of tribals and forest dwellers must be upheld in accordance with the Forest Rights Act and directed the state to publicise the same widely.

Earlier, the bench had urged the Jharkhand government to take a decision on declaring the ecologically rich Saranda forest a reserve area. The case has been under consideration for years, concerning the proposal to designate the Saranda and Sasangdaburu forest tracts in West Singhbhum district as a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve, respectively.

PTI reported that in its affidavit, the Jharkhand government proposed notifying 57,519.41 hectares as a wildlife sanctuary—an expansion from the original plan to cover 31,468.25 hectares.

(With inputs from PTI)