Writers, including Jnanpith Award winner Girish Karnad, filmmakers and wildlife conservationists have signed a public appeal to the owner of a luxury resort to scrap their project coming up in the heart of Kudremukh National Park.
In a letter to Mohan Alva, head of Alva’s Education Institution and Alva’s Kudremukh Nisargadhama, 13 signatories of the “public appeal” have called the project an “ill-advised” violation of conservation laws as well as the Supreme Court order that had eventually shut down iron ore mining by KIOCL.
As reported in these columns, the KIOCL has handed over its guest house — with 54 rooms — as well as 30 cottages to Alva’s Nisargadhama, much to the chagrin of environmentalists. Apart from the potential harm to the biodiversity of the area, activists pointed out that the “resort” would come up on land that had been granted by the State government.
“The resort and the premises on which it stands are on government land illegally occupied by the KIOCL, which has no right to sublease or sublet any part of such land … we are all simply shocked and appalled by your decision to collude with the mining company in this ecological folly,” says the letter signed by conservationist K. Ullas Karanth, writer M. Chidananda Murthy, and filmmaker Shekar Dattatri, among others.
‘Legally handed over’
Mr. Alva, who denied having received the letter, told The Hindu that the buildings had been “legally” handed over by the KIOCL. “Kudremukh is a functioning township, with a highway, schools and other structures. It is not being run in the expense of a forest … We will ensure only good people, who are concerned about nature come there,” he said.
