Grama panchayats sharing borders with the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary have decided to pass separate resolutions urging the Union government to exclude inhabited villages from the proposed buffer zones. The Kozhikode District Panchayat and the Kattippara grama panchayat have already made the call through their resolutions.
Leaders of Karshaka Raksha Samiti, a coordination committee of farmers in the proposed buffer zones, said Chakkittappara, Koorachundu, Panangad and Puthuppadi panchayats would pass their resolutions soon in support of the farmers’ cause. Such resolutions will be crucial in registering the position of various local bodies on the issue, they added.
A samiti coordinator said the Forest Department’s assessment of the existing geographical area of the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary was inaccurate in the absence of solid geospatial data. “If we go by their data, there are around 250 families still staying within the sanctuary. Chakkittappara panchayat will be the worst-hit if the proposed draft notification is implemented as such,” he added.
Samiti leaders also took strong exception to the “finding” of the Forest Department that there were no inhabited areas in Kattippara panchayat which was included in the proposed buffer zones. The finding was based on inaccurate geospatial data with no clear markings of the geographical coordinates, they claimed.
A number of other farmers’ organisations too have stepped in with similar claims about the department’s “unscientific” calculation of the sanctuary borders. According to them, the flaws in the marking of boundaries will again drag rural farmers into crisis with the final notification on ecologically sensitive areas.
To convince the Union government of the farmers’ apprehensions, some leading farmers’ action councils are also planning to send their leaders to hold talks with Union Ministers. They are now in touch with a few senior BJP leaders to finalise appointments.