Roll back advisory on village relocation from tiger reserves, rights groups tell Centre

An independent committee should review and report on the compliance of laws relating to resettlement and rehabilitation of people from tiger reserves, the groups said and demanded that NTCA issue another advisory to state authorities.

The Indian Express had reported in June that the NTCA had sent an advisory to state wildlife departments seeking a timeline and action plan on relocation of 591 villages comprising 64,801 families inside critical tiger habitats.

The letter to NTCA pointed out that inviolate areas have to be created without affecting the rights of the STs or other forest dwellers. The phrase inviolate areas has to be read with the provisions on protecting rights of tribes and forest dwellers and such areas do not extinguish rights of forest dwellers, it stated.

“The NTCA letter thus provides a false and misinterpreted reading of the word ‘inviolate’ by purposefully omitting the part ‘without affecting the rights of the STs or such other forest dweller’,” the letter said.

“NTCA continues to offer a monetary compensation of `15 lakh… as the only monetary compensation for the relocation and rehabilitation package by the central government. This however, constitutes a meagre portion of acquiring and compensating their rights, and does not equate to the total compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation as required by the LARR (Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Resettlement) law,” the letter stated.