GUWAHATI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) defended the State government’s move to notify a 1 km Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the Kaziranga National Park.

The default 10-km buffer zone will continue to apply around protected areas until the Centre notifies the ESZ, based on proposals and recommendations submitted by the respective State governments, Mr. Sarma said.

“Once the zone is notified, the distance specified in that notification will come into effect,” the Chief Minister told journalists in Guwahati.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling, he said the ESZ around a protected area can be at least 1 km. “The Supreme Court said the ESZ can be 1 km [from the periphery of a protected area]. The 10-km provision will continue to apply until the ESZ is notified. This is not about reducing the existing zone,” the CM said.

Retaining a 10-km ESZ around the Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the safest address for the one-horned rhinoceros, would affect thousands of people living in Bokakhat, Kaliabor, and other peripheral towns, Mr. Sarma said.

He was being criticised by some people who did not understand the issue, he said, advising them to examine the Supreme Court order before arriving at conclusions.

Deepor Beel

Notifying an ESZ entails a process that starts with the State Forest Department preparing the proposal, the Chief Minister said. “The State government will then send it to the Centre, which will then forward it to the National Board for Wildlife,” he said.

He referred to the recent notification of the ESZ around Deepor Beel, a Ramsar Site housing a bird sanctuary on the outskirts of Guwahati. “The ESZ around Deepor Beel was notified at 1 km. This implies no rule says the buffer zone has to be 10 km everywhere in the world,” Mr. Sarma said.

The 10-km general rule for ESZs has its genesis in a resolution adopted during a meeting of the National Board for Wildlife in 2002 under a wildlife conservation strategy.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change issued formal guidelines in 2011, instructing State governments to submit site-specific proposals for ESZs, with a general guideline of up to 10 km.

The 10-km guideline was challenged in the Supreme Court, which issued an order in June 2022 mandating each national park or wildlife sanctuary to have a minimum ESZ of 1 km measured from the demarcated boundary of such protected areas. The apex court also prohibited mining within ESZs.

The Supreme Court modified the order in April 2023, while retaining the 1-km clause.

Published - August 12, 2026 05:36 pm IST