For the second consecutive day, the Forest Department fined tourists for illegally flying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or drone, inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) on Tuesday.
Forest Range Officer, Masinagudi Range, N. Mariappan, identified the four accused as Sreedharan, 45, from Palakkad, Sufiyan, 25, Mohammed Shafi, 25 and M Siyad, 21, all from Malappuram in Kerala. Officials said that Mr. Sreedharan, the owner of the drone, had come with his friends to the tiger reserve to capture visuals of a car he had recently bought.
On Tuesday evening, forest officials found the group trying to operate the drone and apprehended them. They said that the owner of the drone was fined ₹10,000 for the offense, while three of his friends were fined ₹5,000 each.
On Monday, the forest officials caught a tourist from Bangalore trying to operate a drone and film parts of the tiger reserve in Mavanallah. He was fined ₹20,000 for the offense, while three more tourists from Karnataka were also fined for trespassing.
Deputy Director of MTR (buffer zone), A. Pushpakaran, said the forest department had stepped up vigil during Christmas period owing to an increase in the number of visitors to the reserve.
“We plan to raise awareness among tourists that using drone cameras to film or take pictures in the tiger reserve is illegal, while other measures, including prevention of feeding of animals, especially the macaques and langurs, are also being undertaken,” said Mr. Pushpakaran,.
Forest officials said that drones were banned inside the tiger reserve