Goa govt for zero buffer zone around Salim Ali bird sanctuary

Goa government has urged the Union Environment Ministry to have a zero buffer zone around Salim Ali bird sanctuary in the State and simultaneously reduce the buffer area limit around remaining six wildlife sanctuaries.
State Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar met Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in Delhi on Tuesday and submitted a proposal to reduce buffer zone limits for wildlife sanctuaries, which he said will save the economic activities around these protected areas.
"The State has urged that there should not be any buffer zone for Salim Ali bird sanctuary, a protected area near Panaji, across Mandovi River," Parrikar told reporters here today.

He said that the state government also demanded that Cotigao wildlife sanctuary should have less than one kilometre buffer zone.
"The remaining five wildlife sanctuaries should have one kilometre buffer zone with an option to phase out existing mining activity in these areas over next ten years," he said.
"Two of the wildlife sanctuaries were notified when the state was under President's Rule in 1999, which has left 32 villages trapped in it. The final boundary of these two wildlife sanctuaries is in dispute. The state has demanded that mining activity within one kilometre of the wildlife sanctuaries should be allowed to be phased out in ten years," the chief minister said.

Parrikar said that Goa figured second after Sikkim in terms of forest cover.
"The buffer zone in Sikkim is between 25-200 metres despite the fact that the state falls under fragile Himalayan ranges," he added.