Villagers living in the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) of Kota fear for their safety from the tigers that have been relocated at the MHTR in the last one year.

“We are able to neither go to our agricultural fields nor take our cattle for grazing following fear of the tigers relocated inside MHTR,” said Toofan Singh (25) of Mashalpura village.

Sarpanch of the Dolya Gram Panchayat, Kota, Nandlal Meghwal said that government and wildlife department have relocated Tigers of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve of Sawai Madhopur into the MHTR without relocation of the villagers inhabited inside.

Singh says the tiger relocation has created a sense of fear among the villagers of their village and nearby villagers which are located in the core area of the MHTR. “The wildlife department has not informed villagers about the routes of the movement of the tigers to instil a sense of safety among villagers,” alleged Singh.

“Villagers are frightened due to Tiger relocation so government should relocate the villagers through announcement of due compensation package,” said a resident of the Ghati village, requesting anonymity.

Teachers of schools located inside MHTR in Jhalawar district have written to the district administration and wildlife department of Jhalawar to close schools as they are not sure of their safety.

Principal of the Gagron government school in Jhalawar and Primary Panchayat Education promotion officer, Anita Sharma said there are around 9 government schools in the villages of Jhalawar inside MHTR whose teachers have approached her, complaining that the tigers have been killing cattle in the villages, and pose a safety risk to them.

“Teachers have informed that school kids are not coming to the schools due to fear of tigers,” Sharma said.

“School teachers of the villages inside MHTR have written an application to the district administration and wildlife department over demand of declaring summer vacations in the schools with immediate effect,” he said.

There are over a dozen villages situated inside the MHTR area whose villagers want to relocate but are not able to due to insufficient relocation compensation packages, he said.

“If the state government offers adequate relocation compensation packages to the villagers, then villagers would certainly move out of the MHTR,” said Meghwal.

According to the wildlife department, there are around 14 villages inside the core area of the MHTR where 1,600 families stay.

Deputy Conservator of Forest, MHTR, Kota, T Mohanraj, said the wildlife department is carrying out public awareness camps in the villages located inside MHTR about the tiger relocation and their presence in the area.

“Radio collars have been fitted to the Tigers and a wildlife monitoring team always monitors the movement of the tigers for alerting the villagers about the tiger movement,” he said.

About the village relocation package, he said that a revised village relocation package is pending with the state government, on which decision will be taken after the withdrawal of the model code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission of India for the duration of the Lok Sabha elections.

MHTR was declared as Rajasthan’s third tiger reserve five years ago, in 2013, but tigers were relocated only last year, in 2018. There are presently 4 tigers in the MHTR.

The MHTR spreads across 4 districts of Rajasthan, and covers about 759 square kilometers.

First Published: May 08, 2019 14:38 IST