23-Jan-2023: Concerns Over Aravali Safari Park
- Environmental Activists raise concerns over the 10,000-acre Aravali safari park Project proposed in Haryana.
- This project will be the largest such project in the world, aiming to boost tourism and employment opportunities for the local people.
- The project is being conceived and designed as a zoo safari and not a natural jungle safari to see native Aravalli wildlife in their natural habitat.
- Conservation of the Aravallis does not even get a mention in the aims of the project mentioned in the Proposition.
- Vehicular traffic and construction in the area, the proposed safari park will also disturb the aquifers under the Aravalli hills that are critical reserves for the water-starved districts.
- The group has objected to the ‘underwater zone’ envisioned in the park since the site is a “water-scarce region”.
- The location falls under the category of ‘forest’ and is protected under the Forest Conservation Act 1972.
- The construction proposed by the Haryana tourism department in May 2022 would be illegal and further damage the already damaged Aravalli ecosystem.
- Wildlife and Forests are protected in India through the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, Protected Areas, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), National Green Tribunal, Indian Forest Act, 1927, The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.