COIMBATORE: The Nilgiris district administration shut down 11 more resorts that had been functioning without approval on the elephant corridor in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Sunday. One of the resorts belonged to actor and former West Bengal Rajya Sabha MP Mithun Chakraborty.
Six resorts in Bokkapuram, three in Vazhaithottam, one in Kovilpatti and one in Masinagudi were sealed by a team of revenue officials as the owners had failed to submit valid building approvals to Collector J Innocent Divya. While many commercial buildings were shut down, residential buildings were exempted. Of 113 buildings of the resorts in the buffer zone, 91 were shut down on Sunday. The other buildings had valid residential building approval. A revenue official said Chakraborty’s Monarch Safari Park shut on Sunday had been functioning for over a decade in Bokkapuram.
The Supreme Court had directed the Collector to check documents related to 12 resorts functioning in the buffer zone of the MTR and seal them if they did not have valid documents. While 11 of them were shut, one was exempted as its owner had been using it as a residential complex. Based on the same SC order, the district earlier shut 27 resorts.