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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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
