Surrounded by forests, dams, water bodies Maharashtra to come up with new Wildlife Sanctuary

Mumbai, February 1: Mumbai already rests amidst beautiful necklace of mangroves, forests. To utilize this Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife gave a nod to bringing up a new Ghodazari wildlife sanctuary in Maharashtra. The state has approved Ghodazari in Chandrapur district as a new wildlife sanctuary. 

The decision was taken at the 13th meeting of the Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. The sanctuary, in the North East of Tadoba, will include 159 sq km of Brahmapuri forest.

 

 

“This will not only save the forest but will also improve tourism in nearly 40 villages in the area,” said Dr Anish Andheria, President of the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT). The board also discussed various proposals for development work within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and wildlife sanctuaries in the state.

“We approved the widening project as it is not getting into the park and we asked them to do the widening on the seaward side,” added Andheria.

The board also approved the drilling of nine boreholes by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in SGNP for Geotechnical Investigation for proposed highway tunnel between Thane and Borivali.

The MSRDC had also sought approval for the construction of Nagpur-Mumbai Super Expressway near different wildlife sanctuaries. “A committee has been constituted to look into these proposals. We will not allow them to pass through these sanctuaries, but if they are cutting through a corridor between two sanctuaries then we will suggest them mitigation measures,” added Andheria.