KATHMANDU, Nov 7: Members of the Committee on Natural Resources and Means (CNRM) of the parliament are divided over whether to allow resorts and hotels to operate inside the Chitwan National Park (CNP), a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The subcommittee under the CNRM formed to study about the seven resorts operating inside the park submitted a report to the committee meeting on Friday. The report recommended that in view of adverse impact caused on wildlife habitat, biodiversity and ecology of the national park, no resort should be allowed to operate inside the park.
The subcommittee headed by Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker Ramesh Rizal echoing the same view claimed that more rhinos and tigers were killed near the resorts. However, several other members of the committee refused to endorse the report saying it needed further discussion.
NC lawmaker Gagan Thapa lobbied in favor of extending the contract of the resorts. He said that the subcommittee was wrong in taking closure of the resorts as a solution to poaching in the park.
“Closing the hotels inside the park on charges of poaching is to give impunity to poachers,” said Thapa, who is also designated as Green Ambassador by the WWF Nepal.
Accusing the subcommittee of taking an immature decision, Thapa argued that the contract of the resorts should be extended to make Nepal Tourism Year 2011 a success.
UCPN (Maoist) lawmakers including Satya Pahadi and Dharma Raj BK stressed on the need to first resolve the issue of staffers working in the resorts before directing the hotels to shift outside the park.
“We don´t want to conserve animals at the cost of human lives. Our concern is about the people not animals,” Pahadi said. BK, who is also a subcommittee member, echoed her opinion.
On the other hand, lawmakers Janak Kumari Chalise, Ranadhwaj Kandangwa and Jagadish Ghimire were for evicting the hotels from the park.
The sub-committee is also against construction of any permanent structure inside the park. However, it has said that if the authorities deem necessary, they may allow construction of temporary structures in the park. The construction of temporary structures would be allowed through tender competition to ensure that no damage would be done to the park.
The sub-committee has said that the hotels should not be allowed to operate inside the CNP also because the CNRM had instructed the government to shift the resorts outside the park 14 years ago.
In September, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament had directed the government to allow the seven resorts inside the park to operate till July 15, 2012. It had recommended to the government not to allow any resort or hotel to operate inside the park after the cut off date. But the CNRM accused the PAC of encroaching on its jurisdiction and began fresh investigation into the row.
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