8 yrs after CAG rap, K'taka forest dept told to check illegal resorts in Eco Sensitive Zones: Report
Bengaluru: Eight years after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India flagged the mushrooming of illegal resorts around protected areas in Karnataka, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has directed his department to strictly implement the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) rules to curb such activities.
According to a letter cited by Deccan Herald on Thursday, the minister’s directive follows a series of complaints from farmers living within and around ESZs. They have alleged that while locals face restrictions on land use and development, commercial operations that disturb wildlife, including unlicensed homestays and resorts, continue unchecked.
“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 reportedly wrote in his letter to the Principal Secretary of the Forest, Ecology and Environment Department.
Khandre instructed field directors and divisional forest officers not to clear development proposals at the divisional level, but instead to place them before the ESZ Monitoring Committee for scrutiny. He also called for a comprehensive master plan, as directed under the ESZ notification.
The minister added that the full committee of the ESZ should discuss the proposal and give clearances as per the provisions in the master plan.
The CAG, in its Report No. 6 of 2017, had earlier warned the Forest Department about illegal resorts in ecologically sensitive areas. The audit found that of 51 resorts operating across six protected areas in Karnataka, only seven (14%) had obtained proper clearances. In the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, 13 out of 19 resorts were found to be running without departmental approval.
Furthermore, the CAG reportedly criticised the department for its lack of oversight, noting that it did not even maintain an updated database on such commercial establishments.
“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 stated.
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Money-dispute angle emerges in Delhi bus gangrape case
New Delhi (PTI): Police probing the alleged gangrape of a 30-year-old woman inside a private sleeper bus in Outer Delhi have found that there was a dispute over money between the victim and the accused, sources said on Friday.
The woman was allegedly dragged inside the bus and raped by the driver and the conductor in the Mangolpuri area here on May 11. Both the accused were arrested the following day.
According to the police sources, the woman, in her complaint, has stated that there was a dispute over money with the accused.
The sources also said that one of the accused did not flee the spot after the incident and the victim later used his mobile phone to call police.
The woman has also told police that her husband is suffering from a medical condition and is unable to work. The couple have four children and she has been working to support the family, the sources said.
Police are probing the case from all angles and have already seized the bus. CCTV footage from the route taken by the vehicle on the day of the incident is also being examined.
The case was registered under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) dealing with rape and gangrape, police said.
