The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has approved the proposal of the UT Administration to create an eco-sensitive zone around the Bird Sanctuary in Sector 21. The sanctuary, also known as Parrot Park, is spread over an area of 1.8 hectares in the heart of a bustling residential area in Sector 21.The decision was taken during a meeting between officials of the ministry and the UT Administration in New Delhi. Confirming the development, UT’s Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Environment director, Santosh Kumar, said, “The ministry has approved the proposal wherein restrictions were imposed on activities such as bursting of fire crackers, no-honking zone within 100 metres from the sanctuary’s boundary on all sides.” “Activities such as new construction, digging of deep bore wells, expansion of the road outside the sanctuary and mining would not be permitted within 100 metres from the sanctuary’s boundary,” said Kumar. Officials of the UT Forest Department said the population of parrots inhabiting the sanctuary a decade ago was more than 10,000, but now, it was around 2,000. Besides parrot, a large number of woodpeckers, owls, sparrows, pigeons etc also dwell here. The officials claimed that the declining population of parrots was due to the high levels of noise pollution in the residential area. Noise pollution has been a major cause for the decline in the population of birds in the last 10 years. The sanctuary was set up in the 1980s and was first noticed by the UT Forest and Wildlife Department in the 1990s. The department named it Bird Sanctuary in 1998 and also marked a specified area for it. The sanctuary is governed by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. No decision on ESZ around Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary With Haryana yet to identify eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around the area falling under its jurisdiction, no decision could be taken on the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary. Ministry officials on Wednesday directed Haryana to submit its proposal at the earliest. Sources said in the coming days, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh will hold a meeting on the issue. Last year, Chandigarh had submitted its proposal to identify an area ranging from 2 km to 2.75 km around the sanctuary as ESZ. Of the total catchment area of Sukhna Lake, 29 sq km falls in Chandigarh, while 10.22 sq km is in Haryana and 2.77 sq km is under the jurisdiction of Punjab.