"Though tourism is a state subject, booming tourist activity is being noticed around the wildlife habitat and it is time some concrete actions are taken in this regard. "Environment and Tourism secretaries Vijay Sharma and Sujeet Banerjee will represent their respective ministries among other officials in this regard," a senior official of the National Tiger Consrvation Authority said.
The meeting comes in the wake of the Prime Minister writing to Chief Ministers of three tiger-bearing states namely Madhya Pradesh, Uttarkhand and Maharashtra to put a check on mushrooming luxury resorts as well as to notify buffer areas around the habitat of big cats to mitigate man-animal conflict. "The meeting will discuss steps within the Centre's jurisdiction to streamline tourism in all the reserves, particularly in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) in Uttarakhand where wildlife is facing problems resulting from uncontrolled human activities in the adjoining 77 tourist lodges," the official said.
He referred to a recent survey by the Tourism Ministry which pointed out that a maximum of 600 persons are allowed in a day to enter the CTR area. Tourist lodges provide boarding and lodging facility to 3,197 visitors. "About 70 per cent of visitors arriving in these lodges aren't here to visit the park but for attending dance parties and other recreational activities which create noise and light pollution, particularly during night that causes stress to wildlife," the survey pointed out.
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