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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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
