U'khand govt okays building restrictions near Corbett park

Dehradun: While they await orders which would see the area around Corbett National Park being declared an ecologically-sensitive zone, Uttarakhand forest officials have come up with a proposal to prohibit construction of buildings higher than two storeys within a 2-km radius of the tiger reserve. In a press release Wednesday, a senior forest department official said that the final orders implementing the above proposal have been issued following a nod from Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. [caption id=“attachment_1254407” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Buildings destroyed during floods are seen next to the Alaknanda river in Govindghat in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Reuters[/caption] Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, the official added that 228 Van Gujar families living inside the Rajaji National Park would soon be relocated to the Shahmansur reserve forest in Haridwar. These 228 families are the ones which were overlooked when a previous count of dwellers inside Rajaji National Park was taken. The families in question are to be relocated to the reserve in Haridwar within a month\’s time after the orders for the same were approved by the chief minister. PTI