Centre pulls up Karnataka Govt for evicting tribals from Kali Tiger Reserve

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The guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) states that voluntary rehabilitation of forest dwellers and tribals could only be undertaken from core zones of tiger areas, while the forest officials in the Kali Tiger Reserve had rehabilitated 248 families from the buffer zone of the reserve.

The aim behind rehabilitation is to create safe zones for tigers as the core tiger habitat should be free from human interference. The forest dwellers, who reside in the core zone of tiger habitats, are rehabilitated in villages.

In a complaint written to the authorities, activist B Reshma pointed out, “Of 498 families, who have been rehabilitated from the Kali Tiger Reserve from 2020 to 2025, 248 families were rehabilitated from buffer areas. This violates the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, the Forest Rights Act and the NTCA Guidelines.”

The documents accessed by The Tribune also revealed that several families who had encroached forest lands were also rehabilitated.

The NTCA guidelines mandate that the settlement of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) has to precede rehabilitation. But in case of the Kali Tiger Reserve, the process was yet to be completed in many cases and even such families that are awaiting FRA resettlement have been rehabilitated.

Moreover, relocation of villagers has been carried out in the Castlerock forest range of the Kali Tiger Reserve, which is not notified as core tiger zone.

Besides, it is mandatory to consult the gram sabha before settling the tribals’ rights under the FRA. However, in case of the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, the consent of gram sabha has not been obtained.