Govt to stop all commercial activities in core areas of forests

TNN | Feb 27, 2013, 02.34 AM IST Man dies of swine fluAnother tests +ve for swine fluFive test positive for swine flu37 new swine flu cases in DelhiCity resident among 2 swine flu casualties JAIPUR: The state government on Tuesday announced that all state-run commercial activities in the core areas of reserve forests would be discontinued. The announcement came during the question hour in the assembly when the opposition strongly protested the running of RTDC's Tiger Den and other lodges in the core area of the reserve forest. With an aggressive opposition cornering the state government over the RTDC run commercial hotels in the core area, incharge minister Parsadilal Meena assured the house: ''RTDC run hotels, if any in the core area, will be shut down.'' Prior to this, Meena, who was giving the reply on behalf of Bina Kak, had informed the house that 3281 complaints of commercial activities in the reserved forests were received and that action had been taken in 91 cases. He, however, could not give the details on the number of cases in core areas, buffer zones and eco-sensitive zones. Rathore alleged that commercial activities were on at 500 metres from core area in Ranthambore. "Is it not true that villages were located in the area and are now being considered encroachment and relocated," said Rathore, adding that if new guidelines are followed, 75% of Tonk would be covered as reserved forest. The opposition, during the question hour, accused the state government for being partial towards the urban residents because of the discrepancy in the norms for penalty on use of land without land-use conversion. The matter was raised by BJP's Ajay Singh. ''While in the urban areas the land-use for 1500 sq yards can be transferred at the rate of 200 sq yards; the penalty charged in rural areas in the on-going Prashasan Gaon ke Sang is four times that,'' said Ajay Singh. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Govt-to-stop-all-commercial-activities-in-core-areas-of-forests/articleshow/18702270.cms