Tiger Buffer Zones Expanded in Vidarbha, Impacting Villages and Jobs

thenewsdirt
Jun 12
15 min read

Lush green forest in Vidarha;s Tadoba Buffer Zone with sunlight filtering through trees, a wooden path crosses a serene pond, creating a tranquil, mystical atmosphere. — Tiger Buffer Zones Expanded in Vidarbha, Impacting Villages and Jobs

The Supreme Court’s recent directives have redrawn the boundaries between human settlements and wildlife in Vidarbha, a forested region of eastern Maharashtra. In a landmark June 2022 ruling, the Court mandated a minimum 1-kilometre Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around every protected forest, national park, and sanctuary.

This “no-go” belt, which acts as a buffer or shock absorber for core tiger habitats, is meant to curb activities that could harm ecosystems.

For the tiger reserves of Tadoba-Andhari, Pench, Melghat, and Tipeshwar, the order effectively expanded their protective buffer zones and imposed uniform restrictions on development. One year later, in April 2023, the Court adjusted its stance, recognising that a blanket ban on all human activity in these zones was impractical for locals, but it continued to bar destructive land uses like mining within 1 km of park boundaries.

Each of Vidarbha’s major tiger reserves has seen its periphery come under tighter oversight. The Melghat Tiger Reserve, sprawling over 1,500 km² of rugged forest across Amravati and Buldhana districts, already had an eco-sensitive buffer roughly matching its designated 1,268 km² buffer zone (including about 347 km² of villages and farmlands) as notified in 2015.

This zone around Melghat, home to hundreds of predominantly tribal villages, now formally extends at least 1 km from the sanctuary’s edge wherever it wasn’t so already, reinforcing long-standing curbs on land use.

Likewise, at Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district, the ESZ had been expanded in 2015 from 1,102 km² to about 1,344 km², encompassing 118 villages around the park. The Supreme Court’s directive cements these limits: new commercial infrastructure is largely off-limits within one kilometre of Tadoba’s core area, aligning with the earlier Ministry of Environment notification that barred mining and industrial projects in the zone.

Smaller reserves have not been exempt. Pench Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra), which consists of a 257 km² core in Nagpur district and a buffer area of about 484 km² of forests and settlements, also comes under the mandatory 1 km ESZ rule.

Any stretches of Pench’s periphery that previously had narrower safety margins are now widened to the standard 1 km, offering additional breathing space for wildlife moving beyond the core.

In Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, a compact tiger-bearing sanctuary in Yavatmal district, the court’s order effectively established a new 1 km protective ring where none might have been firmly in place. Tipeshwar’s draft ESZ notification (first issued in 2016) is now backed by the Supreme Court’s nationwide mandate, meaning even this lesser-known reserve must keep at least a one-kilometre development-free halo.

In practical terms, a handful of agrarian villages at Tipeshwar’s fringes that once lay just outside any buffer are now squarely inside an ESZ. Local officials report that tourism resorts and other projects proposed near Tipeshwar have come under greater scrutiny; in fact, an eco-sensitive zone notification for Tipeshwar explicitly stipulates no new hotels or commercial resorts can be constructed within its boundary.

Notably, the Supreme Court’s extension applies unless a wider zone was already in force. Where Maharashtra had earlier set larger buffer extents – for example, Tadoba’s ESZ spans between 3 km and 16 km out from the park in certain directions, those broader limits prevail. The directive’s immediate effect, therefore, was most dramatic for areas that lacked a defined cushion.

By setting a floor of 1 km everywhere, the Court ensured even smaller sanctuaries like Tipeshwar and corridor areas get a basic level of protection.

Conservationists have welcomed this consistency, seeing it as closing loopholes that allowed human encroachment right up to park boundaries. “The core idea is to shield wildlife from harmful encroachment,” explains a senior forest officer, noting that activities such as mining, large-scale construction and polluting industry are now outright prohibited or heavily regulated inside these zones to serve the purpose of a buffer.

However, as subsequent events showed, imposing a uniform green belt around Vidarbha’s tiger domains has proven easier on paper than on the ground, where millions live and work.

New Curbs on Mining and Construction in Chandrapur and Amravati

The extended eco-sensitive zones have brought tougher restrictions on mining, infrastructure and farming to dozens of villages in Chandrapur and Amravati districts, which host Tadoba and Melghat reserves, respectively.

In Chandrapur, a region long synonymous with coal mines and power plants, the 1 km ESZ rule has hit extractive industries particularly hard.

The Supreme Court’s orders categorically ban all mining activity within the one-kilometre safety zone around protected areas. This has immediate consequences in Chandrapur’s mining belt. Any coal blocks or mineral quarries overlapping Tadoba’s buffer are now off-limits. “The ban on commercial mining, while beneficial for the environment, eliminates jobs that once supported local economies, particularly in Chandrapur, a region with a history of coal extraction,” notes a conservation report on the ruling’s impact. Indeed, a few smaller mining and stone quarry projects near Tadoba had to be shelved, and even ancillary industries like stone-crushing or sawmills face strict prohibition inside the zone.

For Chandrapur’s communities, where mining wages and contracts contributed to livelihoods, these measures have been a double-edged sword, aiding tiger habitats but also cutting off a traditional source of income.

Construction and development projects in the ESZ have likewise come under heightened regulation. Under the environment ministry’s norms (now reinforced by the Court), no new large-scale commercial construction is permitted within 1 km of park boundaries.

In practical terms, this means new factories, housing colonies, or resort complexes cannot spring up just outside Melghat or Tadoba without clearance, and most will simply be redirected elsewhere. Even public infrastructure is feeling the pinch.

In Melghat’s buffer villages, spread across Achalpur, Dharni and Chikhaldara talukas of Amravati, residents have discovered that expanding a home or paving a new road now requires navigating layers of approvals due to the ESZ status. “Villages in areas like Dharni and Chikhaldara must navigate new limits on expanding homes or farmland,” a field officer explained, describing how permits are needed for activities once routine.

A telling example comes from Chimur, on Tadoba’s periphery in Chandrapur district. There, a plan to build a community centre stalled because the proposed site fell inside the 1 km zone where construction needed clearance from an ESZ monitoring committee.

By the time approvals were considered, costs had escalated, and the frustrated villagers put the project on hold. Schools, anganwadi daycare centres,and even basic water tanks in these villages technically require sanction under the strict 2022 order. This blanket restriction prompted the central government to seek relief for local needs.

As Justice B.R. Gavai of the Supreme Court noted while easing the rules, “If no permanent construction is to be permitted for any purpose, a villager who is desirous to reconstruct his house would not be permitted… The effect… will be to prevent the government from constructing roads and providing other facilities to villagers”, an outcome the bench deemed “impossible to implement.”

The April 2023 modification of the Court’s order accordingly allows forest-dwelling communities to continue with traditional activities, small-scale farming, building or repairing homes, and civic amenities, within the ESZ. This was a relief to hundreds of Chandrapur and Amravati villages now classified as eco-sensitive. Local officials interpret the change as permitting necessary village-level works, so long as they are in harmony with conservation (e.g. using eco-friendly designs), while still forbidding major commercial developments.

Enforcement on the ground has been mixed. In Chandrapur’s buffer, authorities have stepped up vigilance against unapproved structures.

For instance, two private tourist resorts constructed barely 100–500 metres from Tadoba’s core without permits were ordered to shut down in 2021 for flouting the 1 km rule. Similarly, near Tipeshwar Sanctuary in Yavatmal, forest officers recently cracked down on unauthorised resorts being built on farmland just outside the park.

One luxury villa project by an outside investor was found only 100 m from the sanctuary gate; it was halted because the Tipeshwar ESZ notification clearly prohibits new hotels or commercial establishments within the zone pending a proper zonal master plan. Such cases highlight the new equilibrium: development ambitions now face a higher bar in Vidarbha’s wildlife corridors. Even needed public works are being redesigned, for example, a road improvement plan in Melghat’s buffer is undergoing additional wildlife impact studies.

The road, meant to connect remote villages, must incorporate animal underpasses and avoid sensitive patches, delaying construction but ultimately aiming to reconcile connectivity with conservation.

Mining and linear infrastructure proposals are seeing the strictest scrutiny. In a notable decision, the Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife recently rejected a mining lease application and a dam expansion that would have encroached on tiger corridor ESZ lands connecting Tipeshwar and nearby forests.

The message is clear. Projects in Chandrapur’s and Amravati’s hinterlands, from coal pits to highways, will not move forward unless they can guarantee minimal ecological impact outside these tiger reserves.

For local residents, these moves bring a mix of relief and anxiety. Many welcome the curbs on big polluting industries, having seen the damage from mining in the past.

Yet they also worry about where new jobs and amenities will come from if their area is perpetually under development restrictions.

Tribal Livelihoods at Stake in the Buffer Zones

For the tribal communities living in the shadow of Vidarbha’s tiger reserves, the expanded ESZ rules have been transformative, touching everyday life in myriad ways.

These predominantly Adivasi (indigenous) villages, including Korku tribal hamlets in Melghat and Gond and Kolam tribal settlements around Tadoba, have long depended on the forest for sustenance.

Daily activities such as gathering firewood, collecting mahua flowers or medicinal plants, grazing cattle, and cultivating small farms are woven into their socio-economic fabric. The new buffer regulations aim to preserve the forests’ integrity, but they also impose limits on how villagers may use land and resources they’ve relied on for generations.

One immediate change is the formalisation of resource use. In Melghat’s 347 km² of non-forest ESZ land, which contains dozens of Korku hamlets, residents now often need permits for extracting what was once free. For example, a Korku family in Dharni taluka that used to clear an extra patch of woodland to plant millet must now hold off; any expansion of agricultural land in the ESZ is restricted to prevent further deforestation.

“We understand the forest is important, but how will we grow enough for our children?” asks Bhima Korku, a farmer from a village on Melghat’s fringe, echoing a common concern as shifting cultivation practices are curtailed.

Grazing livestock, too, is under tighter watch. Forest guards and village eco-committees have been tasked with ensuring that cattle grazing in buffer forests stays within sustainable limits. In practice, this means some families must reduce their herd sizes or stall-feed cattle, since roaming freely might breach the new rules.

“They told us too many goats will spoil the tiger’s dinner,” jokes one herder from near the Melghat boundary, referencing officials’ warnings that overgrazing depletes prey habitat.

What villagers express in such wry terms is a real trade-off, while wildlife gets more room to roam, human livelihoods face a squeeze.

Crucially, the Supreme Court’s revised order has tried to temper the impact on bona fide subsistence activities. Traditional farming inside these zones is no longer outlawed. Indigenous communities can continue cultivation as before, so long as they do not encroach further into forests. Building a new hut or repairing an existing home is permitted as a basic right, reversing the initial ban that technically forbade even home construction in ESZ villages.

These clarifications came after an outcry that the 2022 blanket ban was unfair to people who had not chosen to live near tigers but simply always been there. “Hundreds of villages are situated within ESZs… such a direction (total construction ban) is impossible to implement,” Justice Gavai acknowledged, underscoring the need to balance conservation with human welfare.

Local leaders in Chandrapur and Amravati welcomed the relaxation. Primary schools, health centres and gram panchayat offices in the buffer villages, many of which badly need upgrades, can now be built with fewer hurdles.

Still, life on the forest’s edge is more regulated than before. Many villagers feel a sense of heightened surveillance. In Chandrapur’s buffer (Tadoba region), joint patrolling teams of forest staff and eco-volunteers have been formed to monitor ESZ compliance. “Earlier, we only worried about tiger attacks; now, even cutting a tree for timber makes us nervous,” says a villager from near Tadoba, pointing out the strict penalties for illegal tree felling under ESZ rules.

In Melghat, some report that collecting firewood or bamboo requires coordination with forest committees, where previously it was informally managed. Such measures aim to prevent over-harvesting and preserve fodder for wild herbivores, but they can inadvertently reduce the flexibility that forest dwellers depend on.

A survey by the Maharashtra Forest Department found that incomes in certain Melghat buffer villages have dipped in the last year, as families cut back on selling minor forest produce (like tendu leaves or honey) due to permit hassles.

Shrinking incomes are pushing some tribal youth to seek work outside, seasonal migration to cities like Amravati and Nagpur is reportedly on the rise, as restrictions and wildlife protection efforts curtail local opportunities.

Another challenge is the perennial issue of human-wildlife conflict, now viewed through the ESZ lens. The idea of the buffer is partly to reduce encounters between villagers and wildlife by keeping intensive human activity at bay.

To an extent, this works. Loud industries and mining trucks gone silent near parks may encourage animals to stay deeper inside. Yet with people still present (just in a more eco-friendly way), interactions haven’t vanished. Melghat’s authorities noted a slight uptick in crop raiding by deer and wild boar this past year on farms just inside the buffer. Farmers, constrained from clearing vegetation or lighting fires as deterrents (practices now discouraged), feel they have fewer tools to protect crops.

Similarly, in Tadoba’s landscape, villagers worry that if they are “pushed” into a narrower living space by restrictions, they end up closer to forest boundaries in some spots, potentially increasing the chances of tiger encounters on cattle-grazing routes.

Wildlife officials counter that the ESZ regulations actually include measures to mitigate conflict, for instance, ensuring any new development (like lighting or fencing) in buffer areas is wildlife-safe, and promoting schemes for prompt compensation for livestock lost to predators. Yet, on the ground, those measures are a work in progress.

Many buffer villagers remain unconvinced, instead voicing a sense of being asked to bear the costs of conservation. “We love the jungle and the tiger, but we need help to live alongside them,” says one village head from the Tadoba buffer, who has been petitioning for improved compensation when crops are damaged by wild animals or when development projects are halted.

Community representatives across Vidarbha have advocated for better compensation schemes to offset the economic losses that come with stricter conservation rules.

This includes higher payments for crop damage and livestock depredation, as well as livelihood support for those who can no longer pursue activities like mining or timber work. Such demands are gradually being acknowledged by the government, though a comprehensive package remains to be seen.

From Restrictions to Opportunities: Eco-Tourism and Support Schemes

Eco-Tourism and Support Schemes in Vidarbha's buffer zones — From Restrictions to Opportunities: Eco-Tourism and Support Schemes

In response to these challenges, authorities and conservation groups are pivoting towards eco-tourism and community development initiatives as a way to reconcile livelihood needs with wildlife protection. If traditional farming or mining is constrained around these tiger reserves, the idea is to create new avenues of income that leverage the forest’s presence rather than suffer from it.

Tourism in the buffer zones is one such avenue being carefully expanded. Maharashtra’s state ecotourism board, set up in 2015, has identified 320 sites across the state for nature tourism development, many of them in Vidarbha’s tiger-bearing areas.

These include spots around Tadoba, Pench, Melghat, and Tipeshwar, where scenic lakes, forest trails or cultural sites can attract visitors beyond the core tiger-safari circuits.

The plan, as described by Sunil Limaye, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, is to involve local people at every step. “Our priority is protecting wildlife and forest,s and we can only do this with the help of local villagers,” Limaye says, emphasising that developing eco-destinations will help villagers earn a regular income and make them crucial partners in protection.

In practical terms, this means training youth from buffer villages to work as tourist guides, naturalists, homestay operators, drivers, and hospitality staff. Already, existing tiger tourism around Tadoba and Pench provides jobs, dozens of local guides, Jeep drivers and resort employees are from nearby villages.

By expanding tourism to lesser-known buffer areas (for example, birdwatching at reservoirs near Melghat or nature walks in Pench’s buffer forests), the government aims to create new employment that directly rewards conservation.

A senior forest official involved in the program notes that villagers who see economic benefit from tigers and forests are more likely to support restrictions.

“If a farmer can run a homestay or a small canteen for tourists and earn more than tilling a tiny landholding, he’ll happily conserve the forest patch behind his house,” the official said.

The ecotourism board’s approach also includes giving communities a stake in monitoring: village ecotourism committees will help enforce rules (for instance, no littering or alcohol in ecologically sensitive sites), effectively turning villagers into guardians of the forest.

There are signs of progress on this front. Near Tadoba, for instance, the forest department has started offering nature guide training programs to young men and women from buffer villages. Many of them are from tribal families with deep knowledge of the forest. Now, instead of only collecting forest produce, they can earn by guiding tourists and educating them about wildlife.

Similarly, the Pench Tiger Reserve’s management has begun channelling a portion of tourism revenue into community projects. The Pench Tiger Conservation Foundation, which receives park gate fees and tourist charges, uses those funds to build wells, improve schools and support self-help groups in the buffer zone.

This kind of revenue-sharing can be seen as an informal compensation scheme: the forest’s presence yields financial returns that circle back to the people bearing the brunt of conservation limits.

According to a Pench official, the foundation in recent years has funded initiatives like installing solar street lights in buffer villages to reduce human-wildlife conflict (illumination helps deter nocturnal animal intrusions) and sponsoring skill workshops. “Development of buffer villages and their people” is explicitly part of Pench’s mission now, ensuring that communities are not left behind while wildlife thrives.

Non-governmental organisations are augmenting these efforts. The Satpuda Foundation, a regional conservation NGO, has been active in multiple Vidarbha tiger landscapes, facilitating education and livelihoods in tandem with conservation.

In Pench’s buffer, for example, Satpuda Foundation has partnered with the park authorities on nature camps for local students, hoping to foster a generation that understands the value of wildlife.

They also run programmes that teach sustainable farming techniques and poultry rearing to families in Melghat and Tipeshwar, providing alternate income that doesn’t rely on forest exploitation. Other NGOs, such as WWF India and the Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT), have helped form women’s self-help groups making and selling handicrafts and forest-themed souvenirs to tourists.

These may seem like small steps, but for communities impacted by the ESZ restrictions, every new income stream matters. “The idea is to convert a potential loss into an opportunity,” explains Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation, who has worked in Melghat for decades. He notes that a family earning a modest supplement from eco-tourism or skill training is less likely to resent the loss of a mining job or the inability to expand a field into the forest.

Meanwhile, the government is also considering direct compensation schemes. Although there isn’t a specific payout for ESZ-related losses yet, officials cite existing frameworks that could be scaled up. One is the wildlife damage compensation fund, currently used to pay villagers for livestock kills or crop damage by wildlife, which could be bolstered as buffers expand.

Another is the central government’s Green India Mission, under which communities are paid to undertake afforestation and soil conservation works.

In Chandrapur, the forest department has proposed enlisting local youth to work on buffer zone restoration projects (like planting native trees in degraded patches of the ESZ) for wages. This not only provides employment but also directly ties local prosperity to ecosystem health.

Additionally, Maharashtra’s Tribal Development Department has schemes to support alternative livelihoods for Adivasi communities; aligning those with the needs of villages transitioning away from forest dependence is a next step being discussed at policy levels. Importantly, the April 2023 court order itself urged authorities to involve residents in conservation and development decisions, recognising that without community buy-in, even a well-intentioned buffer can breed discontent.

Early evidence from Vidarbha suggests that a middle path is slowly taking shape. The number of tourist visits to Tadoba’s buffer area (for nature trails and night safaris) has reportedly increased, with local guides benefiting.

In Melghat, a pilot project employing village women as eco-tourism hosts, running a small interpretation centre and cafe near the reserve, has shown promise, prompting plans to replicate it at other gates.

And in corridors like the one linking Tipeshwar with Painganga Sanctuary, communities that once feared stricter conservation now see some upsides: an NGO-led agroforestry program is paying farmers to plant fruit trees on their land, which will form additional tiger habitat while eventually providing the farmers with fruit income. “This ruling invites everyone – residents, planners, and visitors – to consider how progress can honour both human needs and nature’s boundaries,” a conservation expert observes.

In essence, the Supreme Court’s expansion of eco-sensitive zones in Vidarbha has set in motion a grand experiment. The forests and villages here are now bound closer together than ever by shared fate: the fate of the tiger and its people.

Success will mean turning the court’s protective edict into a win-win, where tigers roam safely, and local communities thrive as stewards of a rich natural heritage, rather than as its reluctant sacrifice.