Shivamogga: An environmental activist from Shivamogga has raised concerns about boundary demarcation within the Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary in Sharavathi Valley, spanning across Hosanagar and Sagar taluks.Girish Achar claims forest officials assisted encroachers through illogical boundary fixing. Achar submitted a letter to various authorities, including the central empowered committee and the Union ministry of environment and forest, urging protection of the Sharavathi Valley, which received sanctuary status in 2019.He explained that the Sharavathi Wildlife Sanctuary was redesignated as Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary in 2019, incorporating Jog, Channakonda, and Ambargudda state forests. He said some influential individuals damaged local biodiversity and occupied vast forest areas, subsequently applying for Bagair Hukum sanctions.From Jan 27 to March 3, the Shivamogga foresters marked the boundary of the 1974 notified sanctuary, neglecting the 2019 notification at the time of declaring the Macaque Sanctuary, and were found to be self-interested in helping the encroachers, he said. This resulted in Western Ghats forest areas increasingly falling into encroachers’ possession. These individuals targeted sloped areas without flowing streams, destroying dense forest along stream banks, severely impacting local wildlife populations.Achar has called for urgent intervention from relevant authorities, requesting legal action against encroachers, cancellation of unauthorised sanctions, prosecution of officials enabling encroachment, and implementation of strict measures to safeguard the sanctuary.
