In a major push toward wildlife preservation and habitat protection across Maharashtra, the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Monday approved key environmental proposals during its 26th official meeting.

Among the landmark decisions made, the board granted Wildlife Sanctuary status to two key forest pockets and formally approved proposals for 14 new Conservation Reserves spanning seven districts.

The new Wildlife Sanctuary status has been accorded to Kolamarka Conservation Reserve (Gadchiroli district), which is widely renowned as a vital habitat for endangered Asiatic wild buffaloes (Bubalus arnee).

Kolamarka has officially been upgraded to a Wildlife Sanctuary. Further, approval was granted to expand the existing Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary by incorporating 588.767 hectares of private and revenue land from six villages (Ogda, Khodde, Tirmal, Pachghar, Phansad, and Amle) to make the sanctuary human-settlement-free.

Proposals for 14 new conservation reserves spread across Pune, Raigad, Nashik, Nandurbar, Thane, Palghar, and Chandrapur districts received official board clearance. These reserves include Velhe Mulshi (Pune / Raigad), Bhorgirigad (Pune), Lonavala (Pune / Raigad), Dindori (Nashik), Surgana (Nashik), Taharabad (Nashik), Chinchpada (Nandurbar), Alibaug (Raigad), Ghera Manikgad (Raigad), Gumatara (Thane), Jawhar (Palghar), Asherigad (Palghar), Dhamani (Palghar) and Ekara (Chandrapur).

Further, the State Board for Wildlife declared 100.139 sq. km area in Koka Wildlife Sanctuary as Critical Wildlife Habitat and 255.79 sq. km area in Jaakwadi Bird Sanctuary as Critical Wildlife Habitat.

It was also decided that maintenance, silt removal, and dam repair works inside wildlife sanctuaries must be permanently integrated into the respective Management Plans within 3 months.

Wildlife officials are to be notified in advance instead of seeking fresh administrative approvals for every project.

Clearances were granted for essential civic and infrastructure projects (irrigation, drinking water, roads, bridges, power transmission, medical units, and underground optical fibre cables) across protected zones, eco-sensitive areas, and tiger corridors. Discussions were held on declaring Human-Wildlife Conflict as a Natural Disaster under the Disaster Management Act, establishing quiet zones in tiger reserves (core/buffer/ESZ), and formulating relocation policies for villages in buffer zones.

The CM instructed officials to evaluate staffing requirements, deputations, and vacant positions within one month to shift notified sanctuaries from Regional Forest/Forest Development Corporation Maharashtra control to the dedicated Wildlife Wing.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President, Raj Thackeray, on Monday launched a scathing attack on the state’s crumbling urban infrastructure and worsening traffic management, stating that he is eagerly waiting for the day the people of Maharashtra hand over power to him.

Addressing a commercial vehicle transport convention and transporters’ rally in Navi Mumbai, Raj Thackeray criticised the lack of civic discipline, poor city planning, and flawed execution of e-challan systems, warning that the state’s traffic crisis will soon spiral out of control.

Raj Thackeray warned that the traffic problems plaguing urban areas have already reached alarming proportions and are bound to get much worse due to a total lack of structured boundaries or civic rules. While clarifying that he is not opposed to the e-challan system, he criticised the arbitrary manner in which fines are levied. He argued that e-challans should strictly be camera-monitored rather than issued manually on the spot by personnel.

Raj Thackeray accused authorities of drafting development plans out of “friendship with builders” rather than consulting experts or implementing proper town planning.

Pointing out that roads should ideally cover around 15 per cent of a region’s total area, he noted that areas originally built for 50 people now house 500 without adequate parking infrastructure. He remarked that bridges and roads are often engineered to break down within two years so that repair contracts can be continuously issued.

“Looking at the traffic in this country gives me a glimpse of its present and future. We neither know how to drive vehicles nor how to park them,” Thackeray remarked. In a sarcastic critique of modern traffic management, he noted that cities now have automated traffic signals, yet human traffic constables are still deployed right beside them because nobody trusts motorists to obey rules.

Sharing an unheeded suggestion he previously made to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Thackeray proposed colour-coding footpaths (red and black for strict ‘no parking’ zones, yellow and black for designated parking areas).

However, he lamented that lack of public implementation renders such ideas useless. Thackeray warned that cities lack long-term vision. If suburban railway systems—which carry millions of daily commuters in regions like Navi Mumbai—ever collapse, the sudden influx of private vehicles onto the roads would completely gridlock the city, trapping residents inside their homes.

He criticised the haphazard growth of towers and colonies lacking adequate public spaces like playgrounds, gardens, or sustainable water supplies, questioning whether this chaotic urbanisation can truly be called “discipline.”

Concluding his address with a direct political assertion, Thackeray declared that bringing discipline to Maharashtra’s transit and urban sectors does not require “rocket science,” but rather political will. “I really look forward to seeing when the people of Maharashtra hand over power to me. Bringing discipline to these kinds of things is not rocket science; it just takes the will to do it,” Thackeray said, drawing loud applause from the audience of transporters and party workers.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announced that the state will conduct an independent assessment of the proposed height increase of Telangana’s Thummidihetty irrigation project, ensuring that local interests are safeguarded while maintaining cooperative inter-state relations.

The decision came following a high-level meeting where a delegation led by Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy formally requested Maharashtra’s concurrence to raise the project’s height from 148 meters to 152 meters.

Highlighting Maharashtra’s tradition of resolving neighbouring states’ issues through cooperation, CM Fadnavis stated that the state holds a positive stance on aiding Telangana, provided it causes no detriment to Maharashtra’s citizens.

However, CM Fadnavis noted that previous approvals revealed that actual submergence areas exceeded initial projections. Consequently, the government has mandated a joint committee comprising the Chief Secretaries and Irrigation Secretaries of both states to conduct a thorough technical evaluation.

The joint study will examine the impact of relocated project sites on submergence areas, the inclusion of relevant wildlife sanctuaries and the extent of required non-riverbed land.

Furthermore, any discrepancies or technical objections raised by Telangana regarding Maharashtra’s study will be reviewed jointly by officials from both states, with expert consultations brought in if necessary.

The Chief Minister clarified that matters concerning water allocation and statutory clearances fall within the purview of the Central Water Commission (CWC). Maharashtra will officially submit its stance based on factual findings once the CWC seeks the state’s feedback. Final decisions on the project will proceed following the independent technical review and subsequent discussions.

The Tummidihetti project, which was originally a key component of the Dr B R Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella project, is located across the Pranahita River (a tributary of the Godavari) at Tummidihetti village in Koutala mandal, Kumram Bheem Asifabad district (formerly Adilabad district) of Telangana.

It is designed to irrigate approximately 200,000 acres in drought-prone areas across the erstwhile Adilabad district and aims to harness and lift water from the Pranahita River to fulfil regional irrigation needs.

Telangana is pushing for a barrage height of 152 meters (which would account for about 2,300 acres of potential submergence) to maximise water utilisation and gravity flow, while discussions continue regarding lower structural options like 150 meters to minimise land submergence in neighbouring Maharashtra.

The meeting was attended in person and via video conferencing by Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, Telangana Chief Secretary Sanjai Jaju, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Lokesh Chandra, Principal Secretary Srikar Pardeshi, Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Eknath Davle, Secretaries Jayant Borkar and Prakash Misal, alongside other senior officials from both states.