Proposed luxury hotels in and around Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam have come under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

After having registered a suo motu case on the basis of a media report on the upcoming projects under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the NGT’s principal bench on August 7 impleaded and sent notices to a senior forest official, government agencies and the environment ministry.

Notices have been sent to principal chief conservator of forest, Assam, the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forest, seeking their response “at least a week before the next date of hearing”.

The next hearing is fixed for September 30 before the Eastern Zonal Bench of the NGT at Calcutta.

The NGT order said, “per the article” which appeared in Mongabay (edition dated July 31), “These projects could be a threat to wildlife, resulting in displacement, negative environmental impact and the movement of wild animals, especially in the Inle Pothar area, which has traditionally been a haven for elephants.”

Mongabay is a non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform, aimed at raising awareness about social and environmental issues related to forests and other ecosystems.

The NGT order, which has cited the observations made in the report, said, “The news item states that in 2023, the Assam chief minister announced that Kaziranga would soon have a five-star resort to attract tourists from across the world. Later, the Assam government also disclosed that three hospitality projects are being developed in and around Kaziranga in collaboration with the department of tourism.”

“The article alleges that while it is unclear what the final projects are going to be or who the developers are, land has already been barricaded and farmers have been displaced for it,” the NGT order said.

The news item asserts that one of the sites of the projects is Inle Pothar, a 19-acre farmland in the Kohora town of the state’s Golaghat district.

“It (news item) alleges that the authorities have put up fences all around Inle Pothar and also deployed 35-40 armed commandos to guard the area. The article emphasizes that this area, apart from serving as an important passage for animals, has also been cultivated by indigenous farmers for generations. Once this area gets blocked, they will enter villages, and this will aggravate human-animal conflict,” the order said.