Mysuru: If you are planning to celebrate the arrival of the New Year at any resort, farm house, hotel or a home-stay surrounding national parks and bird sanctuaries, you will surely face the music. The Forest Department has banned playing of loud music in the vicinity — from 100 metres to 200 metres — of all the six wildlife and bird sanctuaries in Mysuru Division on the eve of New Year.

Revellers who violate the ban will be booked under the provisions of Wildlife Act. The Department move comes in the wake of several complaints from the public about youths partying on the fringes of Ranganathittu and Kokkare Bellur Bird Sanctuaries. Also, the Union Government has declared the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary near Srirangapatna as Eco Sensitive Zone.

It has come to the notice of the Forest Department that a few resorts around Nagarahole National Park and the Bandipur Tiger Reserve were hosting guests and were playing loud music, entertaining revellers. This apart, party-goers also litter the area with plastic and other non-biodegradable materials, causing environmental damage.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) V. Yedukondalu said that this year, revellers will be under watch as they have received many complaints of loud music being played around the wildlife sanctuaries. “December and January are the breeding months for birds and the winged creatures are highly sensitive to noise and loud music may drive them away. It is also migration time and we do not want people to disturb them,” he said.

Places like backwaters of the Cauvery River near Ranganathittu and near Kokkare Belur are usually preferred destinations for celebrations, he said.

Explaining the measures taken by the Department to enforce the ban, Yedukondalu said that the Department has already started patrolling around the protected areas to inform hotels and resorts about the ban. “We will intensify the patrolling as the New Year eve nears and will not hesitate to take action against the violators,” Yedukondalu said.