Centre wants states to hasten human relocation from tiger reserves

Aksheev Thakur
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 3
The Centre has asked various states to expedite the process of relocating families from villages located inside critical tiger reserves across the country.
In an RTI response to The Tribune, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the Union Environment Ministry, has asked the wildlife departments of 18 states to submit their action plans regarding the relocation.
In the 54 tiger reserves across the 18 states, 591 villages comprising 64,801 families still existed inside the core tiger area, said the NTCA. “The relocation process is very slow and it poses a grave concern in the light of tiger conservation. It will be highly appreciated if the issue is taken up on priority and a timeline should be framed,” Additional DGF (Project Tiger) and NTCA member secretary GS Bhardwaj told the state wildlife departments.
The Wildlife Protection Act requires states to carry out relocation as tiger habitats are required to be kept as “inviolate for the purposes of tiger conservation”. “The relocation of families, however, is voluntary. It can be carried out only if gram sabhas and families agree. Those who voluntarily opt for relocation have to be provided either a financial compensation or a rehabilitation package, as per the NTCA’s protocol. Under the centrally sponsored scheme Project Tiger, a compensation of Rs 15 lakh per family is given to those opting to resettle outside their village,” an NTCA official said. The Uttarakhand Forest Department told the NTCA that 1,379 of the 1,393 Gujjar families in Rajaji Tiger Reserve had been resettled at Pathri and Gandikhatta villages.

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Saving the stripes

54 tiger reserves across 18 states in the country

591 villages are located within critical zone of the reserves

64,801 families reside in these villages

• Uttarakhand: 1,379 of 1,393 Gujjar families relocated from Rajaji Tiger Reserve
• Rajasthan: 7,395 families awaiting relocation from Ranthambore reserve, 742 from Sariska
• Uttar Pradesh: None of 4,369 families shifted out from Dudhwa reserve