All the stakeholders including wildlife and territorial wings of the Forest Department on Monday proposed to extend the boundary of the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ECZ) of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) up to 500 meters, towards the Hope Island from the water front on the north-east side and 50 meters on the landward side.
Mangrove cover
In January this year, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has approved the ECZ draft which proposed the boundary sanctuary as the boundary of the eco-sensitive zone on the landward side and Hope Island front.
However, the MoEF has asked the stakeholders to revise the ESZ, extending the zone from Zero boundary to some possible extension citing that landward front consists of mangrove cover and that can be protected by bringing it in the limits of the ESZ.
The stakeholders led by East Godavari Collector D. Muralidhar Reddy on Monday proposed the respective changes to the boundary of the ESZ, without having any adverse impact on the Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) activities on the land front of the sanctuary.
Mr. Muralidhar Reddy also asked the stakeholders to prepare a revised ESZ report which would be submit to the MoEFCC for approval.
Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) C. Selvan, District Forest Officer (Territorial) Sunil Kumar Reddy, KMC Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar and other officials were present on the occasion.