Off-road jeep ride by Karnataka group in Kerala forests triggers row over safaris in ecologically sensitive areas

Thiruvananthapuram: 22 members of a travelling group from Karnataka has been booked for an off-road jeep ride in the ecologically sensitive forest areas of Idukki in Kerala on Saturday. Of the 22 members, 21 are from Karnataka while one is from Tamil Nadu.

The unauthorised off-road jeep ride by the group has now triggered the demand for stringent restrictions on such illegal activities in the ecologically sensitive areas.

The team that came in 22 sport-utility vehicles got stranded in the forest areas of Nalumala near Nedumkandam in Idukki on Friday night. They somehow managed to reach the nearby human settlements and subsequently police and rescue teams helped them return with vehicles on Saturday.

Nedumkandam police registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 125 for endangering human life and section 329 for criminal trespass as well as sections of the Disaster Management Act. All of them were released on bail. All the 22, which included Keralites settled in Karnataka, are members of social media groups of off-road jeep riders.

Animal rights activists and Biodiversity Management Committee members M N Jayachandran said that such illegal activities in the forest region are leading to incidents of man-animal conflicts. Hence the forest authorities should take stringent action, he demanded.

The fresh incident is the latest of the illegal adventure tourism activities happening in the forest areas of Kerala that remain unchecked. Activities like off-road jeep ride in forest areas affects the ecological sensitivity of the forests and also leads to wild animals entering human settlements. Despite high court orders, activities like elephant safari are also carried out rampantly in the forest areas, he pointed out.