Chikkamagaluru: In the wake of Wayanad landslides, State government has ordered for the clearing of encroachments in the ecologically sensitive areas along the Western Ghats and Malenadu on Tuesday. Following this, the forest department has cleared encroachments in cases that has been already settled at the courts and the department is gearing up for more clearance.
Forest department has also issued clearance notices to unauthorized resorts and home-stays which are situated in ecologically sensitive areas and forest land. Based on the orders of the Minister for Forest and Ecology Eshwar Khandre’s orders, District Forest Officer (DFO) Ramesh Babu has issued notices to more than 25 home-stays and resorts in Chikkamagaluru sub division and has demanded them to submit the revenue and other related documents authorizing their construction.Along with unauthorized resorts and homestays, Forest department has also decided to clear residential layouts and plantations in encroached forest land. The department has also asked the unauthorized establishments, including estates and plantations, in Chikkamagaluru notified forest lands to immediately submit their revenue documents.
Malenadu region of Chikkamagaluru, nestled amidst the Western Ghats mountain range, attract thousands of tourist everyday which fuel the ever growing tourism industry in the coffee-land. Home-stays and resorts have come in almost all remote regions of the district to provide basic amenities to the visitors. Amidst all the authorized tourist establishments, many unpermitted resorts and home-stays also function, adding to the ever increasing nature-tourism menace. Environmentalists have repeatedly raised alarm against such tourist abodes. Wayanad and Ankola landslides have added impetus to the state’s anti-encroachment drive in Western Ghats, a globally recognized biological hotspot.
