M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 1: The Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) is planning to relocate villagers of two villages in its premises, granted the villagers agree. The question that now arises is if the PTR will be able to follow suit of the Melghat Tiger Reserve Maharashtra and the Bhadra Tiger Reserve Karnataka, both of which have successfully relocated their villagers in the past.
The two villages are Latu with 90 households and Kujrum that has 120 households. The PTR has been working to relocate the two villages for the last 10 years.
The chief conservator of forest and field director of PTR Kumar Ashutosh in this regard has said, “Our proposal to relocate these two villages with the consent of the gram sabha of both the villages has passed through forest advisory committee to the forest conversion division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under Government of India.”
“We hope the MoEFCC will accord approval to our proposal for the relocation,” opined the field director Kumar Ashutosh. Sources have said that the residents of the two villages are willing to move out as well.
However there are several hiccups that remain. These include a handful of people who doubt if the relocation will be proper or not or if they will be left in the lurch.
A large number of people of these two villages are desirous of getting out of the villages. This is because being a part of the tiger reserve often results in them being deprived of several governmental schemes.
Deputy director South division of PTR, Mukesh Kumar said that as per provisions, a household that is to be relocated will get two hectares of land from the tiger reserve Palamu management. There are 210 households and by this account there is a requirement for 420 hectares of land in total.
Kumar further said, “We have found around 300 hectares of land for them. 130 hectares of land are for Latu village at their new address Lie Paila Pathar in Latehar district and for Kujrum, 160 hectares have been reserved at Polpol in Palamu district.
“We have readied the residents of Latu and Kujrum to accept cash and land in a manner that will be ample as per their dues and will help them begin a life of peace without the fear of living in the core area of the tiger reserve,” Kumar added.
Notably, the Latu and Kujrum villages are presently situated in the forest of the tiger reserve in Palamu. They are being relocated by the PTR, however will be relocated in Lie Paila Pathar and Polpol that are parts of a forest. This means that the villagers will be relocated from one forest to next.
Kumar, on the other hand has assured that there is absolutely no reason to worry on this account.
“The land of Lie Paila Pathar and Polpol are definitely of the forest but under the forest conversion, however, the forest land will be transformed into the raiyyati land which means every settler here will be the title holder of the land on which they are resettled. The settlers need not worry about the land. They will be the sole custodians of the land and can lawfully deal with their land for the purpose of sale or mortgage,” Kumar added.
Sources have claimed that the PTR ought to begin its relocation with just one or two households and when resettled properly, showcase it for others to toe the line.
