The Kerala High Court on Friday asked the Central government to file an affidavit in response to a public interest writ petition seeking to restrain the State government from implementing tourism projects in reserve forests under the South Wayanad forest division.
The petition was filed by the Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samiti. According to it, the projects were being implemented without prior approval from the Centre as mandated by the Forest Conservation Act.
In fact, the State government was yet to frame an ecotourism policy as was done by the Centre. The ecotourism projects were essentially a non-forest activity which required prior approval of the Centre.
Carrying capacity
The petitioner also said that the ecotourism projects were proposed at 60 sites without any study on the ecology. In fact, a carrying-capacity study of these project sites was mandatory.
The government, meanwhile, submitted before the court that the visitor carrying capacity study of the Pakkom-Kuruva tourism project was undertaken by the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore.
It recommended that 1,100 to 1,150 visitors could be allowed on the Kuruva island which consists of 64 islets on the Kabani river. It also suggested a regular undertaking of precautionary measures to avoid human-wildlife conflict in the areas.
The government also informed the court that ecotoursim in the South Wayand Forest Division had been approved by the Centre under the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, subject to certain conditions, including ban on cutting down trees and permanent structures. Therefore, there was no legal bar on carrying out tourism projects, the government argued.
