The 5,406-hectre sanctuary, which falls in Shivalik foothills, is located at the junction of four states — Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttrakhand. It shares boundaries with two protected areas of many states — Rajaji National Park of Uttrakhand in the east and Simbalbarha Wildlife sanctuary in Himachal towards the north.

An area up to 5 km from Kalesar will fall under the eco-sensitive zone, the zonal plan of which will be prepared by the Haryana government within a year. The plan will be drafted with the involvement of various departments, including forests, environment, urban development, tourism, municipal, irrigation, PWD, revenue as well as the pollution control board.

Pending the preparation of the plan and its approval by the Central government, new construction will be allowed only after the proposals are approved by the monitoring committee. Activities inside the eco-sensitive zone will be strictly regulated. No new wood-based industry will come up within 2 km from the sanctuary boundary and no polluting unit will be allowed within the notified area.

From the boundary of the sanctuary up to 100 metres, no construction of any kind — except the tubewell chamber of dimension not more than 1,000 cubic inch — will be allowed. In the area up to 300 metres, construction of any building more than two storeys will not be permitted.

Mining and crushing will also be prohibited in the eco-sensitive zone, while felling of trees on forest and revenue land will be allowed only after approved by the government. Extraction of groundwater will be permitted only for bonafide agricultural and domestic consumption and no untreated effluent will be discharged in any water body in the zone. While solid waste disposal will be carried out as per the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules-2000, bio-degradable material will have to be recycled through composting or vermiculture.

The Centre has also constituted a monitoring committee, comprising divisional wildlife officer of Panchkula, senior town planner, a representative each from an NGO and MoEF, Yamunanagar’s deputy conservator of forests, regional officer of the pollution control board and a representative of the DC.