The Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) monitoring committee, which met in Chamarajanagar on Thursday, has rejected proposals for land conversion to establish eco-tourism projects.
The meeting was chaired by the Regional Commissioner of Mysuru and it transpired that a few members of the monitoring committee took objections to the land conversion proposals on the grounds that it was in violation of the law and would disturb wildlife habitat.
Citing the ESZ regulations, some of the members argued that no new eco tourism project could come up within the ESZ and hence wondered why the subject was introduced or brought before the monitoring committee in the first place. Among those who expressed their ire was Kollegal MLA A.R. Krishnamurthy.
Sources said the land in question are survey numbers 2/1, 2/2, survey numbers 3, and 5 in Uyamballi in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagara district and belonged to a powerful and an influential politician. The cumulative extent of the land proposed for conversion is said to be huge and could cause adversely impact wildlife movement, the sources added.
The monitoring committee declined to give clearance when there was strong arguments backed by legal documents put forward by members. Incidentally, the State government had also taken a stance before the High Court of Karnataka and accepted the recommendations of the Karnataka Elephant Task Force that it would take mitigatory measures against large-scale tourism infrastructure with specific reference to Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has identified Cauvery WLS as an important sink habitat for maintaining the meta-population dynamics of tigers in the landscape and has called for protection and augmentation of prey population in the area.
