Forest dept urges district admin to evict six illegal hotels in Bhitarkanika

Kendrapada: Forest department has urged the district administration to take necessary legal action against the owners of six hotels in Bhitarkanika National Park for allegedly violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.Bhitarkanika divisional forest officer (DFO) Varadaraj Gaonkar said they wrote a letter to the collector of Kendrapada, who is the head of the District Coastal Zone Monitoring Committee (DCZMC), on Friday, seeking legal action against the hotel owners. We will soon discuss this issue with the district administration in the DCZMC meeting. All the hotels were not granted permissions from the DCZMC or forest department to operate. These hotels within the park often damage fragile ecosystems and cause sewage pollution in coastal waters. After getting permission from the district administration, we will launch a massive eviction operations against the illegal hotels," said the DFO, adding officials are working to gather details about the govt and forest land under unlawful occupation. A CRZ violation occurs when permanent construction, industrial activity or dumping occurs within 500m of High Tide Line or in sensitive coastal ecosystems without proper legal clearance. These violations break the Environment Protection Act and other laws meant to protect the coastal habitats, often leading to demolition, fines, or legal action against unauthorised developers, added the forest officer. Damage to sensitive areas like mangroves and turtle nesting grounds is a major focus of violation in Bhitarkanika, known as the second largest mangrove forest in India after Sundarbans in West Bengal. Gahirmatha marine sanctuary within Bhitarkanika is famous for the world's largest rookery of sea turtles, said the forest officer.
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