Last Updated: 11.06.24

BEAG had been active in the Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani area since 1983. In 1985, the  Government of Maharashtra formulated the first Regional Plan for the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani region, which governed the non-municipal areas, as well as the Development Plans (including the Development Control Regulations), which governed the towns of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani.

In May 1997, finding that severe environmental and heritage site degradation had resulted from willful violations of the Development Plans regulations, BEAG filed a  writ petition (WP 2754/1997) in the Bombay High Court.

In response to BEAG’s writ petition, the High Court appointed a committee to investigate the violations. The committee submitted a Report with than 1,000 violations.

It was a serious situation. The High Court had issued several directives ordering compliance with the law and the regulations, but local developers and property-owners had great influence, if not control, over the municipalities. In fact, many municipal councilors had themselves built hotels that were prima face illegal and had been putting a great deal of pressure on the state government to amend the regulations and change the zoning of green zones to permit more construction. While the High Court could ensure adherence to the regulations, it would be helpless if the regulations themselves were changed.

Hoping that the declaration of the plateau as an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) would forestall all these pressures and bring the region under the stringent controls of the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, BEAG presented an ESZ proposal to the Government of India’s Environment Minister in November 1998.

The Government of Maharashtra was also concerned about the fragility of the Mahabalaleshwar plateau’s ecology. An environmental assessment conducted by a committee it had appointed said conclusively in its Report in 2000 that without protection, the plateau’s ecology would be irreparably damaged.

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change’s committee on the designation of ecologically sensitive areas in India also urged the Government of India to accord special protection to areas identified as ecologically sensitive or fragile.

On July 25, 2000, after two years of ceaseless campaigning by BEAG, the Government of India issued a draft notification announcing its intention to declare Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani Region an Eco-Sensitive Zone, and on January 17, 2001, the final notification under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, was published by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, officially declaring the Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani Region an Eco-Sensitive Zone.

Thus, Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani became the first hill stations in India to be so designated, a culmination of BEAG’s efforts since 1983, and the beginning of a new era of environmental protection.

The entire plateau encompassing the two municipal areas of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani along with 60 villages was declared as an ESZ in 2001. The total area of the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani ESZ (MPESZ) is 237 square kilometres.

The MPESZ boundary is a Regional Plan boundary, not an ecological boundary. The ecological boundary extends on all sides — all the way to Raigad in the north-west and to Ratnagiri in the south-west. But since it would have been difficult for three collectors of three separate districts to administer the ESZ, only the Satara district is included in the MPESZ.

In its  ESZ notification, the Government of India regulated construction (height of buildings, maximum number of storeys), locations where industries may be permitted, types of industries permitted, tourism facilities (which were to also be detailed in a Tourism Master Plan), quarrying and mining, felling of trees, construction on hill slopes, effluent disposal, disposal of solid waste, use of plastic, extraction of ground water, and so on. It also provides specification of conversion of land from green uses (forests, horticulture areas, other green areas) to non-green uses. The ESZ notification also has specific provisions for the conservation of heritage sites, both natural and man-made.