Belthangady: Entry to the historic tourist attraction Jamalabad Fort has been restricted by the Wildfile division of the forest department here.

Famous by other names like Narasimhagada, Gadaikallu, Jamalabad Fort is also a trekking location. It comes within the authority of ASI, Tourism and Forest and wildlife departments. The fort entrance is within the ambit of Kudremukh national park.

Speaking about this development, Kiran B.M. explained that during summer this area is susceptible to forest fires and containing such fires are quite arduous.

There was a fire at January and this implementation of entry restriction is a preventive action. Therefore senior officers have taken note of the incident and enforced temporary entry restrictions to the location.

Social activist Shekar Laila criticized the action as one sided and specified that only the area around the entrance of the fort and its surroundings comes under the national park limits. Tourist arriving to visit this historical monument will end up unhappy.