Kali Tiger Reserve | Photo Credit: File Photos
Nature protection activists expressed concern about the promotion of tourism through Safari Wildlife Safari in Kali Tiger Reserve and were looking for a probe on the matter because it was contrary to complex instructions issued by the National Tiger Protection Office (NTCA).
Hanamant, activist and student of Pravo from Koppal, issued a notice under Section 55 C of the Act on the Protection of Wild Animals and stressed that NTCA has banned the opening of new areas for tourism and that also in an area that was not part of the tourism zone.
According to the complainant, the only approved activities in the chapter of ecotourism of the plan to maintain the Tigers of KTRs to increase along the specified routes and watching birds.
The complainant provided videos to support his accusation, except for warning to the accounts of social media KTR, in which Safari was promoted. The official website KTR continues to promote Safari on its website to this day.
The conservationists argued that these activities carried out without compulsory approval from the National Authority for Tigers (NTCA), endangered critical stations of the Tiger and violated several laws, including the Wild Animal Act (protection) of 1972 and the 1980 forest protection Act.
The complainant emphasized what he described as dual standards in the area of forestry, and stated that while the villagers were moved from these areas under the pretext of creating unaffected spaces for tigers, the same places were opened to tourism.
Hanamant said, “The inhabitants of forests who have lived for decades have been moving from their homeland, because most villages were deprived of basic infrastructure, such as roads, electricity, mobile network, schools or hospitals, etc., given the strict laws of the Tiger of the project.”
On the other hand, for the pleasure of urban tourists, the main area of the tiger station opens, he added.
The complainant, who called on the probe by the Ministry of the Environment, Forests and Climate Change, expressed concern that even the authorities of the Karnataka Forest Department did not work despite this submission of numerous complaints in the past. There are also concerns that Safari, which has been launched without compulsory approval, can be regulated by the fact that it is included in the Tigers (TCP) plan for KTR, although it was not in TCP between 2014 and 2024.
Published – June 15, 2025 17:48
