Bengaluru: Eight years after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India flagged the mushrooming of illegal resorts around protected areas in Karnataka, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has directed his department to strictly implement the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) rules to curb such activities.

According to a letter cited by Deccan Herald on Thursday, the minister’s directive follows a series of complaints from farmers living within and around ESZs. They have alleged that while locals face restrictions on land use and development, commercial operations that disturb wildlife, including unlicensed homestays and resorts, continue unchecked.

“Farmers have alleged that illegal homestays and resorts mushrooming in the ESZ are causing disturbance to animals and driving them to villages by

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