Vultures' haven faces roadblock

Sanctuary is proposed at Ramanagara

The Karnataka government’s proposal to set up the vulture sanctuary at Ramadevara Betta was at the centre of a recent inter-ministerial discussion on vulture conservation at the Union Environment Ministry on March 21. However, no decision was taken.

Nearly 55 km from Bangalore, the location for the proposed sanctuary is the same rocky terrain on the Bangalore-Mysore road where the cult Bollywood movie Sholay was shot.
There is a small nesting population of 13-15 long-billed vulture on a cliff, which are breeding successfully. Karnataka government wants to develop this as a vulture sanctuary, which the conservationists don’t approve.

“Instead of a sanctuary which brings resentment of  local people, it is better to declare it a Conservation Reserve, involving local people,” Asad Rahmani, director of Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai, said.

Villagers would be prohibited from entering the area once it is declared as a sanctuary.
“The nesting colony is disturbed by rock climbers and a resort is coming up at the foothills. This should stop. The rock climbers should have a separate area and no one should be allowed, not even photographers near the nests,” Rahmani told Deccan Herald.

Karnataka government gave permission to a Bangalore-based hospitality firm to come up with a resort. The project, reportedly, has the backing of a powerful minister in the B S Yeddyruppa government.

A legal battle over the project is going on in the Karnataka High Court on land ownership. The resort claimed it purchased 6.78 acres of land from a villager, who reportedly received it as a grant from the state government. The state forest department maintained that the area is forest land since 1917 and there is no question of any private ownership.

Vulture conservation is one of the ambitious projects of the Centre government. The government had set up a vulture breeding centre in Pinjore, near Chandigarh where vultures would be bred in captivity and released in the wild after 10 years.