Time to go all out against illegal resorts

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the revenue department to conduct a land audit to verify if resorts and homestays within 100 km of Bengaluru have usurped government land. His directive comes against the background of a complaint by former Congress MLC Ramesh Babu that about 75,000 acres have been encroached upon in and around the capital. Of this, about 6,000 acres are illegally acquired by resorts, he says. Siddaramaiah should extend the audit to the entire state and not limit it to Bengaluru, because illegal resorts and homestays have turned out to be the bane of Karnataka, especially in the Western Ghats, and in tiger reserves and other eco-sensitive areas.

Last year, officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) found that nine home stays, hotels and resorts were functioning within the BRT Tiger Reserve in violation of the Environmental Protection Act of 1986, and had recommended legal action against them. These resorts had neither obtained the tourism department's permission nor sought no-objection certificates from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

Way back in 2014, NTCA had pulled up the state government for allowing a resort to operate in the notified area of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. Evidently, nothing has changed since then. Illegal resorts have also emerged as a threat to Bandipur’s forest boundaries, especially around Gundlupet taluk. Recently, the forest department found that an illegal resort in Sakleshpur had destroyed rich shola forests spread over 14 acres by constructing sprawling buildings, roads, a swimming pool and other amenities. In Horoor village of Kodagu, a resort owner had constructed a check dam across a stream to create a water body, with the connivance of the minor irrigation department. Similarly, another resort was found operating in the heart of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary without relevant permissions. In Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada, thousands of illegal homestays have mushroomed as the district administration looks the other way.

The audit ordered by the chief minister should not end up as an eyewash as most of these encroachments and illegal constructions have the blessings of powerful politicians. While officials sometimes demolish illegal resorts, the question is why they allow them to come up in the first place. Obviously, major construction activity cannot take place within forest areas or on government land without the notice or connivance of the officials concerned. The audit should not only identify the extent of encroachment but also fix responsibility on officials. Unless some officials are brought to book and dismissed from service, our public land and forests cannot be saved from encroachers.