Karnataka on Monday decided to shut down all private resorts and state-run guest houses located inside reserved forests across the state to protect wildlife in the aftermath of the Supreme Court guidelines on tiger safaris recently.

"We will order closure of all private resorts and our guest houses built in wildlife sanctuaries to protect animals and preserve reserved forests from harmful acts," state Forest Minister C.P. Yogeeshwara told reporters here after a departmental meeting.

Keeping in view the apex court guidelines to preserve tiger reserves across the country, the state forest department will build new guest houses outside forests to provide accommodation on first-cum-first basis to officials, their guests and wildlife enthusiasts.

The government guest houses within the reserved areas will, however, be used to conduct wildlife studies and research activity. The top court Oct 16 issued the guidelines while lifting its three-month ban on tiger safaris in the country. "We will soon serve notices on owners of all private resorts to close their operations to prevent any harmful effect on wildlife," Yogeeshwara said.

The department will, however, allow private resorts to come up outside the reserved forest areas on case-by-case and in accordance with the recent guidelines to meet the huge demand from tourists across the country and overseas, he added.

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