Last Updated: 01.08.24

The 2003 ESZ notification mandated the preparation of a Zonal Master Plan for the ESZ within a period of two years. The Zonal Master Plan was to be comprised of five separate plans:

a Sub Zonal Master Plan for the area governed by the Matheran Municipal Council; this plan is often referred to as the Developmental Plan;
a Sub Zonal Master Plan for the areas outside the jurisdiction of the Matheran Municipal Council area; this plan is also known as the Regional Plan;
a Tourism Master Plan for the ESZ;
a Forest Master Plan;
a Forest Protection/Management Plan.
A decade and a half later, the Zonal Master Plan was nowhere near prepared.

It took the Government of Maharashtra16 years after the 2003 ESZ notification that had mandated the preparation of the Zonal Master Plan within two years to submit only three components of the Plan—the Sub Zonal Master Plan for the town of Matheran (the Development Plan), the Sub Zonal Master Plan for the ESZ area outside the town of Matheran (the Regional Plan), and the Tourism Master Plan—to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for approval.

In fact, it was only due to BEAG’s petition before the National Green Tribunal that the Government of Maharashtra initiated the process for preparing these plans in 2016 and submitted them for approval to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change between 2016 and 2018.

The other components of the Zonal Master Plan, such as the Heritage plan and its regulations for the ESZ area outside the town of Matheran (which were to be included in the Regional Plan),the Forest Master Plan, and the Forest Management Plan have yet to be submitted by the Government of Maharashtra to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

BEAG continues its battle for the preparation of the Zonal Master Plan in its entirety, as mandated by the ESZ notification of 2003.