The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a nationwide ban on mining activities within one kilometre of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, holding that such operations pose a serious threat to wildlife.
A bench of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran passed the directions while hearing pleas concerning the long-pending proposal to notify the Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary (SWL) and Sasangdaburu Conservation Reserve (SCR) in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district.
Reiterating its consistent position on protecting ecologically sensitive regions, the bench observed:
“It has been the consistent view of this court that mining activities within one km of the protected area will be hazardous to the wildlife… Though in the case of Goa Foundation, the said directions were issued with respect to the State of Goa, we find that such directions need to be issued on a pan-India basis.”
Accordingly, the Court directed:
“Mining within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and within an area of one km from boundary of such national park or wildlife sanctuary shall not be permissible.”
The bench also instructed the Jharkhand government to formally notify the Saranda region as a wildlife sanctuary. It emphasised that the rights of tribals and forest dwellers must be safeguarded under the Forest Rights Act, and asked the state to publicise these protections widely.
Earlier proceedings had seen the Court urging Jharkhand to take a decision on declaring the ecologically rich Saranda forest as a reserve forest.
According to an affidavit filed by the state, Jharkhand has proposed to notify 57,519.41 hectares—significantly higher than the original proposal of 31,468.25 hectares—as a wildlife sanctuary.
The matter relates to the long-pending initiative to notify the Saranda and Sasangdaburu forest regions as a wildlife sanctuary and conservation reserve, respectively.
