26 October,2026 07:47 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis chaired the 26th meeting of the Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife on Monday. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired the 26th meeting of the Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife, which approved proposals to declare two forest areas as wildlife sanctuaries and cleared 14 proposals for conservation reserves across seven districts.
The Kolamarka Conservation Reserve in Gadchiroli district, known for its habitat of wild water buffaloes, will be declared a wildlife sanctuary. The board also approved the proposal to declare the newly expanded Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary, adjoining the existing Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary, as a wildlife sanctuary.
The meeting also approved proposals for 14 conservation reserves in Pune, Raigad, Nashik, Nandurbar, Thane, Palghar and Chandrapur districts.
The proposed conservation reserves include Velhe-Mulshi in Pune and Raigad districts; Bhorigad in Pune; Dindori, Surgana and Taharabad in Nashik; Chinchpada in Nandurbar; Alibag and Ghera Manikgad in Raigad; Lonavala in Pune and Raigad; Gumtara in Thane; Jawhar, Asherigad and Dhamani in Palghar; and Ekara in Chandrapur.
The meeting was chaired by Fadnavis, while State Forest Minister Ganesh Naik participated through video conferencing. Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Sanjay Khandare, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force M Srinivasa Rao, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Srinivas Reddy, and board member and MITRA Chief Executive Officer Pravin Pardeshi were among those present.
The board approved the inclusion of 588.767 hectares of revenue and private land from six villages - Ogda, Khodde, Tirmal, Pachghar, Phansad and Amle - in the newly expanded Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary. The proposal is aimed at making the sanctuary free of human habitation.
The board also approved proposals to declare 100.139 square kilometres in Koka Wildlife Sanctuary and 255.79 square kilometres in Jayakwadi Bird Wildlife Sanctuary as critical wildlife habitats.
Fadnavis directed officials to include routine dam repairs, rehabilitation and desilting work within sanctuaries in the respective sanctuary management plans.
He said standard operating procedures should be prepared in accordance with the rules and the necessary changes incorporated into management plans within three months. Instead of requiring separate approvals for such work on every occasion, a system should be put in place for prior intimation to the concerned wildlife officials, he said.
The board also approved proposals for infrastructure projects in protected areas, eco-sensitive zones and tiger corridors. These included irrigation facilities, healthcare infrastructure, water supply projects, bridges, roads, underground optical fibre networks and power lines.
The meeting discussed proposals to notify the core, buffer and notified eco-sensitive areas of the state's six tiger reserves as silence zones, declare human-wildlife conflict a natural disaster, and formulate a policy for the relocation of villages in tiger reserve buffer zones where residents are willing to move.
Fadnavis directed officials to examine how these proposals could be implemented in line with the Disaster Management Act, the existing compensation framework and the powers of the Forest Department before taking further action.
The chief minister also directed officials to study staff deployment, deputation and vacancies in areas already declared wildlife sanctuaries but still managed by the territorial Forest Department or the Forest Development Corporation. A proposal for a decision on transferring these areas to the wildlife wing must be submitted within one month.
