HC disposes petition on closing of Corbett gates

NAINITAL: Uttarakhand high court disposed of a petition related to closing of the gates of Corbett National Park on Saturday while asking the petitioner to approach the state government.
Madan Joshi, a resident of Ramnagar, had filed a PIL requesting the HC to take action against closing of gates of the park to tourists during protests and other incidents.
“The local residents who have to tackle man-animal conflict often protest which leads to closing down of the tourist gates of Corbett.This leads to loss of tourism,” said Niranjan Bhatt, counsel for the petitioner.
The division bench of chief justice K M Joseph and justice V K Bisht heard the plea and asked the petitioner to approach the state government.
The man-eating tigress in Ramnagar which was shot dead recently had killed two and injured four people, causing local residents to protest on the streets and threaten to shut down the tiger reserve. The agitators managed to close the gate at Jhirna range and had threatened to shut down more gates on October 22 if the tigress was not captured.
Established in 1936, Jim Corbett National Park is home to 110 species of plants, 50 species of mammals, 580 species of birds and 25 species of reptiles.