India, Oct. 19 -- Seven years after the draft notification for an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Odisha's Similipal tiger reserve was issued, the final notification remains pending, with the Centre blaming the state government for the delay.

The Union environment ministry, in an affidavit, has said this is due to the state repeatedly failing to provide the information required to take the process forward and has issued at least three reminders since July last year to the state to share it.

The affidavit, dated October 5 and submitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) said without complete information, the process to notify the ESZ could not be dispensed with or bypassed.

ESZs are buffer zones extending up to 10 km beyond a prot...