27 Nilgiris resorts to be sealed today

An order to this effect was issued on Saturday by the District Collector Innocent Divya, they said. Officials from local administration, revenue and police departments would be involved in the sealing process, the sources said, adding the future course of action would be taken after reviewing the situation.

On August 9, the Supreme Court had directed the Tamil Nadu government to seal or close down within 48 hours, the 27 resorts constructed in the elephant corridor.

The court had given the order after perusing a report by the district collector of Nilgiris, as earlier directed by it, which said that resorts were operating in the area even though they do not have approval for the same.

The court had noted that of 39 resorts mentioned,lawyers were not present for 27 such commercial establishments and “it is deemed that they accepted the report of the report.”

The court had said that elephants are a ‘national heritage’ and expressed displeasure as to how constructions had come up on the elephant corridor of Nilgiris. The Centre had told the court that there are 27 ‘critical’ elephant corridors in 22 states, but despite the top court directions, 13 of those states had not responded to the government on the matter.