Rajasthan panel clears de-notification of area

JAIPUR: A Rajasthan wildlife board panel has approved the de-notification of a forest area in the Banshi Pahadpur hills of Bharatpur, from where pink sandstone is being sourced for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, as a sanctuary after a survey found that it didn’t possess the flora or fauna essential to qualify as a forest.

A senior forest department official, who is familiar with the development, said the standing committee of the State Board of Wildlife, at a recent meeting, recommended de-notifying the forest area of Banshi Pahadpur as a sanctuary.

“There are no forest or animals, and it is difficult to understand why it was made a sanctuary? The government is not just losing revenue because of illegal mining, but unnecessarily, the [forest] department’s image is being tarnished,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Pink sandstone mined from the hills is being supplied to Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been sourcing stones from Banshi Pahadpur, had complained of supply of sandstone getting stalled because of a crackdown on September 6 and 7 by the district administration. The administration had claimed the stones were being illegally mined from Banshi Pahadpur, a forest block in the north-east corner of the wildlife sanctuary.the standing committee recommended to SBWL that the sanctuary be de-notified. Once SBWL approves the recommendation, it will be sent to the National Board for Wildlife, said the official cited above.