More than 50 mines can benefit because Sariska’s important tiger habitat can be rebuilt by India News

The Rajasthan government’s proposal has mostly identified the hill parcel, adding up to 48.39 sq km as “peripherally humiliated areas”, which can be excluded from the CTH. To compensate, 90.91 sq km “Quality Tiger Habitat” will be added to CTTH to CTH.

The proposal stated, “These areas move from CTH to buffer, will not be part of the sanctuary or national park. This conversion will help promote cordial relations between the local community and the tiger reserve management.”

However, two senior Rajasthan forest officials serving in Sariska said that the internal connectivity of the Tiger Reserve would be cut off except these peripheral hills.

“Geometry is such that Sariska is standing on two odd feet in the south. Finger -shaped hills are not dispensable, but are important for tiger movement between these two sections,” said one of the authorities.

When asked about these concerns, Arijit Banerjee, head of the forest force (half) of Rajasthan, said: “Only those areas that cannot be saved.

Double-engine push

Sources in Alwar and Jaipur said that the Rajasthan government is working to receive the proposal at the State Wildlife Board meeting on Monday, just for time it is to be taken by the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (SC-NBWL), which is going to be available in Dehradun on 26 June.

The SC-NBWL meeting was originally scheduled for 11 June. According to sources, it was placed before the Supreme Court for final approval before taking the Sariska Cth proposal.

Rajasthan had declared 881 sq km of land as CTH for Sariska in 2007-08, but the notification was pending due to several disputes on the legal status of some land parcels.

“This (rationalization) has been a controversial issue. But this time, both ministers (state’s Forest Minister and Union Environment Minister) are from Alwar, a double-engine drive to complete it. We were part of the dual committee of term details, which was part of the 12-member committee.

Rajasthan Forest Minister Sanjay Sharma is an MLA from Alwar (Urban), while Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav was elected from Alwar Lok Sabha constituency.

A marble mine next to the Sariska border near Palpur. (Express photo)

On the ground

Out of 100 marble, dolomite, limestone and mesonic stone mines around Sariska, 43 were already carried out due to lack of permits and other causes, while 57 active mines were closed under the Supreme Court order last May.

The Indian Express Many of these mines have been seen by machinery and workers, which have been closed for more than a year on paper due to closeness of CTH.

Most of these mines doted the southern periphery of Sariska in Tehla tehsil, which is responsible for 77% (37 sq km) of the area left out of CTTH.

Assessment of an area supported by local sources indicated that more than 50 of these mines proposed CTTH limits-more than 50 villages Khoh, six around village Palpur, four villages Tilwad, Gordhanpura and around Mallana, three around the village Dondpuri, two around the village Jaisinjpur, two around Jayasinjpur and a village Jayasinpur.

It can give relief to some mines on the western border of Sariska in Pratapgarh tehsil.

Local mines owners spoke to Indian Express with a profit range of Rs 500-600 crore, to add annual revenue to Tehla mines alone for Rs 700-800 crore.

“Dolomite lumps are more beneficial than marble due to inexpensive extraction costs-selling at Rs 175 per tonne-and for Rs 750-900. Tehla mines are used to send at least 1,000 trucks daily for 10 months a year. Per truck is worth at least Rs 500 crore per truck.

Corruption fee

There have also been allegations of corruption. KS Rathor, owner of a dolomite mine in Thanagazi, in a complaint sent to the Prime Minister’s Office on June 14, alleged that many of the closed mines were asked to pool the money to re -start their mines.

“My mine is legal and yet they keep demanding money. I put my business at stake to write that letter. Does anyone feel that it is a coincidence that the (CTH) range is being rebuilt finally, and all these mines are getting relief?

Sangram Singh Katiyar, the field director of Sariska Tiger Reserve, denied that the border demarcation process was affected by mining stakeholders. He also said that he did not know about Rathore’s allegations.

“There are some mining areas in the exclusion list, but the demarcation process was not affected by such stakeholders. We have followed expert advice from the perspective of tiger protection to prepare the report under the SC order,” said Katiyar.

CEC report

In the order of the Supreme Court, Sariska came into a Suo Motu case in a Suo Motu case about the issues of unrestricted admission on foot and private vehicles inside the Tiger Reserve. In March 2024, the court asked its Central Strong Committee (CEC) to submit a report on the issue.

In September 2023 under the Ministry of Environment, the CEC expanded the scope of the report by including other issues such as village rehabilitation, cattle grazing, strength of employees and other issues like border demarcation.

However, the issue of mining was only mentioned once in the CEC’s 79-wind report: “Illegal mining activities are due to poor demarcation.”

After accepting the CEC’s July 2024 report in September, the Supreme Court asked the state to complete the limit rationalization process within a year, subject to its final approval.

Asked why the CEC expanded the scope of its report, a member who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the committee “wanted to solve all controversial issues, including the boundary rationalization, which has been pending for a very long”.

The CEC member said, “We hope that CTH will be finalized before the Supreme Court deadline as the honorable ministers are personally overseeing the matter.”

CEC President and former DG (Forest) of the Ministry of Environment, Siddhanta Das refused to comment, saying that the committee was “not going to speak” to the media.