Mysuru: Following a string of protests by various environmentalists and wildlife organisations, Chamarajanagar district in-charge minister C Puttaranga Shetty on Sunday affirmed that the Karnataka government would not relax the ban on vehicular movement inside Bandipur Tiger Reserve Citing observations made by officials in the forest department, Shetty said, “Foresters have informed me that the Bandipur forest is an eco-sensitive zone and so elevated corridors cannot be built across the area.”Shetty, who participated in the Bhagirathi Jayanti celebrations at Town Hall in the city, said, “The night ban on traffic inside the reserve was imposed to ensure unrestricted movement of wild animals inside the forest area.”Shetty’s remarks come amid a spate of protests by wildlife activists against lifting the ban on night traffic inside the reserve. The activists have alleged that the state government is under pressure from neighbouring Kerala to lift the ban on the road, which connects Karnataka to the tourist spot Ooty in Tamil Nadu and Wayanad in Kerala.Vehicular movement along the road is banned between 6pm and 9am.‘One school per hobli’Shetty, who is also the welfare minister for backward classes, said that he had plans to build one school in every hobli of the district along the lines of the social welfare department’s Morarji Desai Residential Schools. “There is also a proposal in the department to build a hostel along with the school. Presently, there are as many as 2,700 hostels under the purview of the department, and we are seeking to increase it. The government has approved the construction of 100 schools and hostels. Each hostel will be built on two-acre plots at an estimated cost of Rs 3.15 crore. We will ensure that facilities are in proportion with the strength of students,” said Shetty.The minister said that he would discuss the recommendations made in the report on the socio-economic survey submitted by the Backward Classes Commission with chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. “The commission spent Rs 150 crore on the survey, although Rs 195 crore was allocated for the same,” Shetty added.

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