Jayanthi Natarajan welcomes SC order on tiger reserves

Hailing the Supreme Court order of disallowing tourism activity in core areas of tiger reserves, Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Tuesday said she would ask the state-governments to strictly follow the directives of the apex court.

"We welcome the Supreme Court order banning tourism in core areas of tiger reserves. We are very strict about banning tourism in core zones of tiger reserves. I will personally write to all Chief Ministers asking them to strictly follow the apex court's directive," Natarajan told PTI.

The minister also expressed concern over increased tourism activities in core areas in the tiger reserves. Hearing a PIL filed by conservationist Ajay Dubey demanding removal of commercial tourism activities from core or critical tiger habitats in the tiger reserves, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that there shall be no tourism activity in any of the core zones of tiger reserves across the country.

A bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifulla also warned of contempt proceedings and imposition of exemplary costs on states which fail to notify the buffer zones in their respective tiger reserves. "We have made it clear that till final directions are issued by this court, the core zones or core areas in the tiger reserves will not be used for tourism," the bench said in its order.