The Forest Department shut down an illegal tourist resort in The Nilgiris and fined the owner last Sunday.
The resort, known as the ‘Parsons Valley Retreat’, located in Parsons Valley Range, was a fishing hut, built and owned by a Britisher in the late 1800s. He had handed over the property, then known as ‘Hudson Hut’, to the Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association, which had owned the property till 1967. The association used to carry out conservation campaigns and other activities. The resort is located on patta land that is surrounded by forests.
It was sold to a private party, after which the building changed hands on numerous occasions, and finally came into the possession of the present owner, identified by the department as Sri Prakash. He had the rights to use the property for agricultural purposes, but since 1998 he had inviting tourists to enjoy the property.
“Since 2011, an average of 40-50 tourists visited the property every week. The owner had even filed a case in the local court claiming that he had the right of access to the property,” said R Rajmohan, Assistant Conservator of Forests (Nilgiri South Division), in-charge of Parsons Valley Range. However, in April the court ruled that the owner had only the right to practice agriculture on the land and not to house tourists.
But the owner continued to let out the property to tourists. Following a tip-off, a team of officials from the department visited the resort on Sunday and imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on tourists staying there on charges of “trespassing”. The owner was asked to pay a fine of Rs 20,000. Mr. Rajmohan said for a resort to function certain guidelines need to be followed, including getting permission from the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA), the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, local panchayat and municipality. However, the resort owner had not obtained the permission from any of these bodies, he added.
According to a court order the owner can only practice agriculture on the property
