Decks cleared to redraw critical tiger habitat boundary of Sariska Tiger Reserve

The SC’s directions on boundary rationalisation were based on a report of its Central Empowered Committee (CEC). CEC was entrusted with the task of looking into the issue of human disturbances in the tiger reserve, and it also made recommendations on the issues of village relocations, cattle grazing, and boundary demarcation.

The SC-NBWL decision comes just over a fortnight after the Rajasthan State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) cleared the proposal for the Union government’s approval. The Sariska proposal did not figure in the original agenda of the SC-NBWL meeting, and was provided to committee members very close to the meeting, it has been learnt.

The Sariska Tiger Reserve falls in Bhupender Yadav’s Alwar Lok Sabha constituency.

Increase in critical tiger habitat

Prior to Rajasthan SBWL’s meeting, The Indian Express reported last month that if approved, the boundary rationalisation could aid operations of over 50 marble and dolomite mines that were closed following a Supreme Court order last year. These mines were closed because they fell within a 1-km radius of the critical tiger habitat (CTH), a protected area.

A critical tiger habitat is an area within a tiger reserve that is to be kept free of human activity and presence to aid tiger conservation and tiger breeding, as per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Rajasthan government had proposed certain hilly and peripheral areas for exclusion from CTH and the addition of areas from the buffer zone to the CTH.

During the meeting, SC-NBWL noted that the boundary alteration proposal was already approved by the Rajasthan Chief Wildlife Warden, the State Board for Wildlife, as well as the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Following the alteration in the tiger reserve’s boundaries, the critical tiger habitat will increase from 881.11 sq km to 924.49 sq km, and the buffer area will decrease from 245.72 sq km to 203.2 sq km, as per the SCNBWL minutes.

Concerns over mining activities

Among the conditions specified while approving the proposal was protection of areas with low tiger density due to their continued ecological significance and role in providing landscape connectivity.

“As the proposed western section for rationalisation from core to buffer has lower tiger density, it still holds ecological significance due to confirmed tiger presence and its role in broader landscape connectivity. Therefore, any developmental activities detrimental to wildlife habitats may be avoided,” the NBWL panel stated, as per minutes of the June 26 meeting.

It also directed that protection measures should be maintained or strengthened in the proposed buffer area and CTH through enhanced patrolling, community engagement, and habitat monitoring.

A Supreme Court bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice K V Viswanathan on December 11, 2024, had directed the Rajasthan government to carry out a boundary rationalisation exercise, based on the recommendations of CEC. In May last year, the SC had directed the closure of several stone, limestone and dolomite mines in and around Sariska.

The bench had acknowledged in December the concerns raised over the help to mining activities due to rationalisation, as well as concerns of legal mine operators regarding the impact of rationalisation. The southern part of the Sariska Tiger Reserve is rich in marble and dolomite deposits in the Tehla range.

The bench noted in the order CEC’s observations that the tiger reserve’s CTH has fragmented, which led to legal and management challenges. “Hence, critical tiger habitat of STR should be rationalised based on the pattern of tiger breeding while ensuring the total area of CTH after rationalisation does not decrease rather the area of the Sariska wildlife sanctuary should be increased,” the CEC report had stated.

“As the forest boundary and land records were not clear, the Mining Department has allotted mining leases. Mining leases operating on the forest land were closed down after orders from the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the CEC report filed in July 2024 had stated.