8 years after CAG rap, forest department told to check illegal resorts in Eco Sensitive Zones

Bengaluru: Eight years after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India flagged the issue of illegal resorts on the periphery of protected areas of Karnataka, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has asked his department to implement the Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) Rules to prevent such activities.

The minister’s letter comes in the wake of complaints by the farmers in the ESZ and surrounding areas. Farmers have complained that while the local populations are wary of the restrictions imposed by the department, commercial activities that disturb the peace of the forests are being allowed.

“Farmers have alleged that illegal homestays and resorts mushrooming in the ESZ are causing disturbance to animals and driving them to villages by light and blaring sounds of the night life,” Khandre said in a letter to the principal secretary of Forest, Ecology and Environment Department.

He said field directors and divisional officers should not clear development proposals at divisional level but place the same before the ESZ Monitoring Committee for scrutiny. He further said that a master plan should be prepared as directed in the ESZ notification.

“The full committee of the ESZ should discuss the proposal and give clearances as per the provisions in the master plan,” the minister said.

Sources in the department said the lack of final ESZ notification and the consequent absence of a master plan would be among the gaps exploited by the commercial developers. “However, they said the possibility of officers sidestepping the ESZ committee is unlikely,” an official said.

The department has got a clear warning about illegal resorts by the CAG in its report number 6 of 2017. The report stated that out of 51 resorts in six protected areas, only seven (14%) had received the clearances. Of the 19 in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, 13 were not “approved by the department”.

Further the CAG rapped the forest department for not even maintaining data on such activities. “It was observed that the lists of resorts furnished by the (forest) department were obtained by the department of tourism and the forest department did not have its own data... the absence of approval/regulation will have an indirect but significant impact on the wildlife and its habitats,” it said.

Eshwar Khandre, Forest Minister said, “Farmers have alleged that illegal homestays and resorts mushrooming in the ESZ are causing disturbance to animals and
driving them to villages by light and blaring sounds of the night life.