Environment group seeks crackdown on 14 illegal layouts across Nilgiris district

Environmental activists have raised alarm over 14 unapproved residential layouts operating across the Nilgiris district, demanding immediate intervention by local authorities to halt their operations. The unauthorized developments span eight locations including Naduhatty, Kodanad, Doddabetta, Adhigaratty, Jackanarai, Kagguchi, Mulligoor, and Burliyar, according to environment group assessments.

The layouts have been identified as operating without proper approvals from district authorities, posing potential risks to the region's sensitive ecology and contravening land-use regulations. The Nilgiris, a mountainous terrain in Tamil Nadu, has been subject to increasing developmental pressures, raising concerns among conservationists about habitat loss and environmental degradation.

The environmental organization has urged the district administration and town planning authorities to conduct comprehensive inspections of these sites and take enforcement action to prevent further unauthorized construction. Officials have not yet issued a formal response to the concerns raised by the environment group.

The issue highlights ongoing tensions between development and conservation in the ecologically significant Nilgiris region, where unauthorized layouts have periodically emerged as regulatory challenges for district authorities.