7 years on, Similipal eco-sensitive zone notification remains pending; Centre blames Odisha for delays

ESZs are buffer zones extending up to 10 km beyond a protected area, where commercial activities are restricted.

Seven years after the draft notification for an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Odisha’s Similipal tiger reserve was issued, the final notification remains pending, with the Centre blaming the state government for the delay.

The Union environment ministry, in an affidavit, has said this is due to the state repeatedly failing to provide the information required to take the process forward and has issued at least three reminders since July last year to the state to share it.

The affidavit, dated October 5 and submitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) said without complete information, the process to notify the ESZ could not be dispensed with or bypassed.

ESZs are buffer zones extending up to 10 km beyond a protected area, where commercial activities are restricted.

The draft notification to declare an ESZ around the Similipal Tiger Reserve and the Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary was issued on January 29, 2019. However, the proposal has remained pending amid revisions, consultations and requests for additional information.

“The delay in proceeding with the re-publication and subsequent processing of the draft ESZ notification is presently occasioned by the non-receipt of the requisite information from the state Government, despite repeated requests and reminders issued by the answering respondent,” the affidavit stated.

The affidavit details the correspondence between the Centre and Odisha over the past few years.

On January 4, 2024, the ministry sought three sets of information from the state: the ESZ proposal in Microsoft Word format; the minimum and maximum extent of the proposed ESZ in all directions, with justification for proposing a zero extent; and the latest gazette notifications for the protected area and tiger reserve.

The ministry said the information had not been furnished and that it subsequently wrote to the state on July 17, 2025, seeking the pending details again. A reminder followed on February 13, 2026, and another on September 18, it said.

“The answering respondent has issued repeated communications and reminders to the State Government for furnishing the requisite information,” the Ministry has added, stating the process requires complete information, scrutiny, consideration of objections and suggestions, expert consideration and legal vetting before final publication.

The dispute dates back to the ministry’s expert committee meetings in 2019. During its meeting on June 3, 2019, the committee flagged discrepancies in the protected area’s extent and sought details of the core and buffer areas, properly demarcated maps, an updated list of villages and reports of public consultation, among other information.

The committee subsequently reconsidered the proposal at its September 30, 2019, meeting, when the state proposed restrictions on mining activities within 1 km of the protected area and sought to regulate mining beyond that distance. The committee recommended finalisation of the draft notification subject to additional requirements.

However, at its March 2020 meeting, the committee was informed that Odisha had requested that publication and finalisation be put on hold because of objections raised by public representatives. The state also proposed revising the proposal in consultation with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

The ministry said it then received an updated proposal from Odisha on October 5, 2023, after NTCA’s concurrence, for re-publication of the draft notification.

The Environment Ministry’s own assessment, published in July this year through a report, had said that, out of the country’s 58 tiger reserves, only half or 29, had so far notified ESZ, with the remaining 29 still in different phases of the final ESZ notification.

Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More