Woman's death in elephant attack:Kerala village panchayat orders closure of resorts under its jurisdiction

Wayanad (Ker), Jan 25 (PTI): A Kerala village panchayaton Monday ordered the closure of all tourist resorts under itsjurisdiction, two days after a 26-year-old woman was trampledto death by a wild elephant at a resort here.

Authorities of the Meppadi gram panchayat inWayanad directed all resorts in the panchayat to close downtill further orders, official sources here said.

Shahana, a college lecturer hailing from Kannurdistrict,was attacked around 8 pm at the remote Rain forestresort,located on the forest fringe frequented by wildelephants,on Saturday.

Shahana and two others came out of their tent onhearing a trumpeting sound. While the other two managed torun away to safety, she was killed, police said.

Earlier, district collector Dr Adeela Abdulla hadordered the closure of the Rain Forest resort after shevisited the place on Sunday along with the Divisional ForestOfficer and the Vythiri Tahsildar.

A scrutiny of documents revealed that the resorthad no license.It also did not have any permission from theforest department to set up tents in the resort, which isclose to the forest, or necessary safety measures.

The Meppadi gram panchayat president Omana Rameshalso confirmed that the resort had no proper license tofunction.

In the light of such a breach of rules by a resort,resulting in the tragic death of a tourist, the panchayatcouncil, which met on Monday. decided to order the closure ofall resorts functioning in the panchayat.

According to a forest official, district authoritieshave decided to verify the documents and safety conditions ofall the resorts in the neighbouring forest areas in the comingdays.