Land converted 'illegally' for 5-star hotel in Kaziranga Rights group

Guwahati, Jul 29 (PTI) A rights group on Monday claimed that huge portion of land in the vicinity of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park has been converted and is being handed over to a leading international hospitality group to construct a five-star hotel without following norms.

    Addressing a press conference here, Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee President Pranab Doley said that 60 bighas (nearly 20 acres) of public land were transferred to Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) last year.

    The ATDC then signed an agreement with the hotel chain for the said land. According to information available in the public domain, a five-star hotel with around 120 rooms is supposed to come up there, Doley said.
    When contacted, a senior official of the Assam government’s Revenue Department told PTI: "I am not aware of this case".

    Doley claimed that around 45 tea tribes and Adivasi families have been cultivating on the said land, which was agricultural in nature and also served as a grazing ground for domestic and wild animals.

    "These people have their land records in the form of land titles, tilling rights certification as well as tenancy certificates. Also, many wild animals like elephants, rhinos, deer and other species used this particular land parcel for grazing," he added.

    The peasant activist claimed that the authorities have fenced the land in presence of police personnel for formally handing it over to the hotel group.

    "The entire exercise was carried out violating several norms. No public hearing was conducted with the affected 45 families. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) were not done," he claimed.
    The proposed project also violates the Supreme Court's order of maintaining a 10-km radius eco-sensitive zone around protected areas in the country, Doley claimed.

    "We have submitted a memorandum to the authorities concerned demanding justice to the people and seeking an end to the land acquisition process. We demand cancellation of plans to build big hotels near the jungle for the environmental protection of Kaziranga," he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)