Government to speed up relocation process for Sariska villages
TNN | Updated: Apr 21, 2019, 07:05 IST
Move comes after a male tiger was shifted from Ranthambore to SariskaJAIPUR: The forest administration plans to expedite the process of relocation of villages in Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) to create inviolate spaces within the reserve.
The move comes after a male tiger was shifted from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) to Sariska.
Chief conservator of forests and field director of Sariska Tiger Project (Alwar) Ghanshyam Sharma said, “We have started an exercise to educate the villagers inside the reserve. The relocation will be carried out in a phase-wise manner. At present, our focus is to shift Kankwari, Karska and Haripura villages and meetings are being held with the villagers for the same”.
As per the forest records, more than 247 families continue to live inside the Sariska reserve as they are unwilling to leave the forest in the absence of adequate compensation. The state government is providing a rehabilitation package at Rs 10 lakh per family and two hectares of agricultural land.
“A man above 18 years of age is considered as a separate family member and government offers him compensation. We have also earmarked land to rehabilitate residents of these three villages near Tijara,” said Sharma.
The relocation plan of villages in the core and buffer areas of STR, which are a major factor behind poaching and man-animal conflict, has seen zero progress due to lack of political will and bureaucratic apathy. As the deadlock continues, in the last five years, not much progress could be achieved in the relocation of the villages from the critical tiger habitat (CTH).
According to the guidelines of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the government of Rajasthan had notified 881.11 sq km area as critical tiger habitat on December 28, 2007. As per the records, currently there are 26 villages in CTH that need to be relocated and that are said to be violating the tiger habitat. Out of these, 10 villages are on ‘priority I’ and the rest are on ‘priority II’.
Till now, only three of the total 29 villages that come under CTH could be fully shifted. In 2007, Bhagani village was relocated. Two more villages, Umri and Rotkala, were shifted later.
The move comes after a male tiger was shifted from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) to Sariska.
Chief conservator of forests and field director of Sariska Tiger Project (Alwar) Ghanshyam Sharma said, “We have started an exercise to educate the villagers inside the reserve. The relocation will be carried out in a phase-wise manner. At present, our focus is to shift Kankwari, Karska and Haripura villages and meetings are being held with the villagers for the same”.
As per the forest records, more than 247 families continue to live inside the Sariska reserve as they are unwilling to leave the forest in the absence of adequate compensation. The state government is providing a rehabilitation package at Rs 10 lakh per family and two hectares of agricultural land.
“A man above 18 years of age is considered as a separate family member and government offers him compensation. We have also earmarked land to rehabilitate residents of these three villages near Tijara,” said Sharma.
The relocation plan of villages in the core and buffer areas of STR, which are a major factor behind poaching and man-animal conflict, has seen zero progress due to lack of political will and bureaucratic apathy. As the deadlock continues, in the last five years, not much progress could be achieved in the relocation of the villages from the critical tiger habitat (CTH).
According to the guidelines of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the government of Rajasthan had notified 881.11 sq km area as critical tiger habitat on December 28, 2007. As per the records, currently there are 26 villages in CTH that need to be relocated and that are said to be violating the tiger habitat. Out of these, 10 villages are on ‘priority I’ and the rest are on ‘priority II’.
Till now, only three of the total 29 villages that come under CTH could be fully shifted. In 2007, Bhagani village was relocated. Two more villages, Umri and Rotkala, were shifted later.
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