Bengal: Forest dept to shift villages in tiger reserves after nod from residents

Kolkata: The state Forest department will relocate villages in tiger reserves only after residents give consent to such shifting.

The decision was taken by the state Forest department after National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) enhanced the relocation package per family from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

"There will be no forcible relocation on the part of the state government as it is dead against our policy," a senior official of the state Forest department said.

Forest villages in the state have been existing since British rule as the latter deployed the residents of these villages for plantation in these places. The majority of such forest villages are located inside Buxa Tiger Reserve.

According to a senior official of the department, there are 63 such villages in BTR out of which there is an urgent need to shift 31 villages.

"It is a fact that if such villages can be relocated, the villagers may get better facilities when it comes to education, health, drinking water, electricity etc which may bring a significant change in their livelihood. But, we need to have a consensus among the villagers, the local administration and the political parties associated with the issue so that there is improvement in the livelihood of these people," Pradip Vyas, former Chief Wildlife Warden said.

In the mid 90s, the Bengal government had done successful relocation of Khunia village under Jalpaiguri forest division. The scheme that was worked out by the state involved allotment of proportionate land and financial assistance for building of houses etc.

The village was witnessing a good number of deaths that included children in elephant attacks. Presently, such deaths have reduced drastically in the area. Bhutia bustee in BTR was the second one where relocation was taken up under NTCAs project Tiger scheme.

"Talks are in an advanced stage for relocation of 4 to 5 villages including the Jainti forest village," added the official. NTCA believes that the relocation of the villages will contribute to significant reduction in man animal conflict and restoration of the forest habitat.

As per statistics of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, presently there are over 41,000 families in 496 villages across 50 tiger reserves out of which 18,500 families across 215 villages have already been relocated.

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are the states where the relocation package has tested success. In Maharashtra, 66 out of 110 villages inside core forest area have been relocated.