HUBBALLI: A section of wildlife activists have criticised the government's move to allow a private chopper to land close to a tiger reserve in Karnataka.
Last week, the Chairman of TVS group of companies, Venu Srinivasan landed his private chopper on a temporary helipad created in the revenue land of Bejjalupalya village.
The village falls within the boundaries of Eco Sensitive Zones of BRT Tiger Reserve and flying activities involving choppers is banned as per the guidelines of Supreme Court on the management of tiger areas and buffer zones.
While the administration has clarified that the permission was given for chopper landing in consultation with the other government agencies including the forest department, the insiders in the administration admitted that there was pressure from the top to allow the landing of Srinivasan's helicopter of Srinivasan.
In fact the permission for landing was given by the Monitoring Committee, Regional Commissioner, from Mysuru.
"As the zonal master plan for BRT has not been prepared, the committee used this grey area as the way to seek permission for landing. There was also pressure from the CMO to clear the file. Earlier the applicant had sought permission to land at the private estate located close to the tiger reserve, but permission was denied as it is a tiger reserve and MOEFCC will have to be involved. Also it involved chopping a few trees. Hence the landing site was changed at the last moment," said an official.
"Flying of choppers must be banned around tiger areas. Several times in the past the department and governments have denied permission for flying activities over the tiger areas of Karnataka. A temporary helipad was constructed near Bandipur Tiger Reserve a few years ago but the permission for flying was denied. Once the helipads are created there is no stopping of VIP flying. We must ensure the temporary helipad that is created in the eco-sensitive zone of BRT Tiger Reserve is dismantled," said a wildlife activist.