Hyderabad, March 13
The environmental activism of Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has once again put him on a collision course with his own party’s government, this time in Andhra Pradesh.Jairam has waved a red flag to an ambitious eco-tourism project coming up in the posh Jubilee Hills area here. 

He has sent a communication to the state government ordering a halt on work at the night safari park -- on the lines of the night safari in Singapore Zoological gardens -- citing violation of various project conditions and environmental guidelines.

“We are dismayed to learn that the project proponents have actually planned to construct huge concrete structures such as a large hotel with 300 to 400 rooms, a convention centre with a seating capacity of 2,500 people and a multiplex with a dozen screens and a multi-level parking for about 5,000 vehicles which will be totally unacceptable in a forest area,” Ramesh said in a letter to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

“I am sorry to say that the project proponents intend to take over the general permission given by this ministry with guidelines in order to bring in components, which have not been properly examined or scrutinised,” the minister said. Ramesh, who represents Andhra in the Rajya Sabha, directed the state government to issue instructions to the project developers to stop all construction.