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2. By a notification dated 29.01.2001 issued by the Government of Odisha, Forest and Environment Department, area comprising of portions of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak and Keonjhar was declared as an elephant reserve – Mayubhanj (Similipal-Kuldiha- Hadgarh) Elephant Reserve, under the Central Scheme “Project Elephant”. The total area of the elephant reserve was shown as 3213.81 sq. kms and the core area was 845 sq. kms of the existing Similipal Sanctuary. With respect to the taking up of non-forestry activities in wildlife habitats, the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests (Wildlife Division) issued a guideline document on 15.02.2011. It was mentioned in the said document that environmental clearances for any project that falls within 10 kms boundary of the 3 | Page National Parks and Sanctuaries will be subject to the recommendations of the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (hereinafter ‘NBWL’). The user agency/project proponent has to seek prior permission from the Standing Committee of the NBWL before seeking environmental clearance in case the concerned project is located within the eco-sensitive zone or within 10 kms in absence of delineation of such a zone from the boundaries of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries or is an Elephant Reserve/Tiger Reserve and/ or important corridors of wildlife movement.

3. In order to operate certain stone quarries near Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, the State of Odisha submitted a proposal to the Standing Committee of NBWL. In its 40th meeting held on 03.01.2017, the Standing Committee of NBWL considered the proposal of the State of Odisha involving operation of 97 Nos. of stone quarries at a distance of 2 kms from the boundary of Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary. After due deliberations, the Standing Committee agreed to recommend the proposal subject to the implementation of a Comprehensive Wildlife Management Plan in the region, for mitigation of 4 | Page impact which would be caused by operation of all quarries and transportation of materials.

-Hadgarh - Kuldiha - Similipal elephant corridor was place by the State CWLW before the 40 th Meeting of SC-NBWL which, recommended the proposal for operation of 97 stone quarries with certain pre- conditions as detailed earlier at Para No. 1. Though, these 97 quarries form a cluster as requisite no environment management plan has been submitted by the Revenue Authorities yet.

IV. Accordingly, as per the recommendation of the 40th meeting of SC-NBWL, a comprehensive:

9 | Page quarries to the ESZ. In order to avoid any further future ingress within the limit of ESZ, DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) mapping should be immediately taken up for all the 97 quarries with permanent pillar posting. The vector polygon of the quarries may be shared with all concerned departments. The intactness of all the ESZ pillars for demarcation of ESZ must be ensured by the Revenue Department as some of the pillars during field visit were found missing. The Environment Management Plan for cluster of the quarries is yet to be finalized with ensuring its strict adherence. Further, implementation of Comprehensive Wildlife Management Plan by immediate deposit of Environment Cost by the District Administration needs to be ensured. A "Monitoring Committee" as recommended by NBWL & NTCA may be constituted immediately at the district level to look into the wildlife & environment issues on bi-monthly basis.