All private resorts in Meppady to be closed

A meeting of the Meppady grama panchayat on Monday decided to close all private resorts functioning in the panchayat limits.

The decision was taken in the wake of the death of a tourist in a wild elephant attack on Saturday night.

“The property owners can resume functioning of their properties only after obtaining permission from the grama panchayat by producing all documents related to the property,” Omana Ramesh, president, Meppady grama panchayat, said.

If any property functioned without the permission of the local administrative body, legal measures would be initiated against it with the help of the police department, she said.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department has started collecting details of resorts and home-stays functioning on the fringes of the forest.

“We have issued directives to owners of private resorts and homestays to remove all structures like tents put up on the fringes of the forest,” South Wayanad divisional forest officer P. Ranjith Kumar told The Hindu.

The department had issued notice to the Rain Forest resort at Elambilery to remove the tents set up on the fringes of the forest two times earlier. But it had failed to obey the order, he said.