Illegal resorts show lawlessness

It is a free-for-all in Karnataka’s forests. The absence of effective vigilance has resulted in at least two major encroachments on precious forest land on which resorts have come up. The two resorts are equipped with an impressive paraphernalia including water supply, electricity and other amenities that would do any established resort proud. One of the two has been built on forest land within the precincts of the Dandeli tiger reserve and another within the Bhadra protected forests in Chikkamagaluru district. The Dandeli resort has been constructed by a Mumbai-based developer while the Chikkamagaluru homestay is the handiwork of an honorary wildlife warden.

That the two constructions, which have been found prima facie unauthorised, came up at all indicates a shocking state of governance in the state. What it effectively means is that these projects were covertly allowed and able to come up in areas which are otherwise barred for such activities. These would not have been possible without the connivance of officials from the lower rungs going at least some way to the top, if not all the way up. The Karnataka High Court, responding to media reports, has in fact issued notices to the government suo motu on the resort at Bhadra asking for the hows and whys of the construction. The Bhadra resort was constructed by Satish Gowda, who had been appointed honorary wildlife warden barely a few months back. The forest squad, which discovered the resort, found that Gowda had even diverted a stream running nearby to use its water for construction. The other resort inside the Dandeli Tiger Reserve called Trinity Jungle Lodges is in the final stages of construction and is being built on three acres of forest land by the Mumbai-based Jatoyah Investments and Holdings Limited. Forest officials deny they gave clearance to these projects. Though cases have been filed against both, the issue is of accountability and the buck stops with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Vinay Lutra.

The government must use its powers to unearth how the resorts came about, track the nexus between the builders and officials that made it possible and institute a statewide forest survey to ensure there are no other such resorts that have come up surreptitiously. For, it is not just the question of a resort here or there but the issue of overall security and protection of forests. Already endangered and reducing in size for a variety of reasons, such encroachments can gnaw at the remaining standing forests and more will follow unless a punitive example is not made of ones that have already come up.