Overview

• The Rajasthan Wildlife Board has approved a plan to remove 48.39 sq km from Sariska’s critical tiger habitat and reclassify it as buffer zone.
• The proposed boundary change would allow more than 50 marble, dolomite and limestone mines in Tehla tehsil to resume operations outside the no-mining core area.
• The plan now awaits scrutiny by the National Board for Wildlife before it can receive final clearance from the Supreme Court under the Wild Life (Protection) Act.
• Conservationists and legal experts caution that excluding this terrain could fragment key movement corridors and undermine long-term tiger recovery.
• Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized what he called the ‘Alwar double engine’ for prioritizing mining interests over the reserve’s ecological integrity.