This report examines the contentious land acquisition and development plans for a five-star hotel by Juniper Hotels (operating under the Hyatt global brand), and its associated partners in the immediate vicinity of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR), in the state of Assam, northeast India. The Kaziranga National Park is a globally significant UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This report highlights the inherent conflict wherein large-scale commercial tourism initiatives are ostensibly framed as catalysts for economic development. They are often seen to prioritise corporate interests over fundamental Indigenous rights and environmental sustainability, thereby challenging the normative principles of responsible tourism in ecologically sensitive domains.

This study details the impending displacement of forty-five Adivasi families of the Hatikhuli Bagicha village near the Kohora range of Kaziranga National Park, who are in imminent danger of the loss of their ancestral lands. These are portions of land, which they have cultivated and been taxed for generations at Inlay Pathar (‘pathar’ meaning agricultural field), situated near their village at Kohora, Kaziranga.

These lands that are on the periphery of the Kaziranga National Park were forcibly acquired by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation in June 2024. Subsequently, the Assam government announced that a five-star luxury hotel and cultural centre would be built on these lands. The acquisition at Inlay Pathar was forced upon by uninformed perimeter fencing, deployment of a police battalion to deter access to the affected farmers, and the commencement of building of a permanent structure in the demarcated area.

These actions signify a violation of established land rights and procedural justice, which the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC) has been fighting for since 2022. The report highlights the systematically unlawful land acquisition process, the issues of human rights violations and displacement through case studies of the Adivasi families, and the absence of requisite clearances from the Forest Department and the State Board of Wildlife for the construction of a hotel of this magnitude on the immediate periphery of a National Park.

This briefer was produced by the GKLHRPC with assistance from the Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy.

Read the full report here: https://tinyurl.com/yn2xbbpy