KOCHI: The standing committee of the National Board for Wild Life has recommended enhancement of the financial assistance provided for voluntary rehabilitation of settlers from wildlife habitats of protected forests from Rs 10 lakh per family to Rs 15 lakh. This will benefit people living in settlements located inside wildlife sanctuaries like Wayanad.
The state forest department has been implementing the Rebuild Kerala voluntary relocation scheme to encourage people living in forest areas to relocate outside the forest. According to the forest department, around 350 people have availed of the scheme and around 3,000 applications are being processed.
While people living in tiger reserves are offered a compensation of Rs 15 lakh per family for relocation, others living in wildlife sanctuaries are provided only Rs 10 lakh per family. While people living in Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves will get Rs 15 lakh per family, those living in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary are offered only Rs 10 lakh. This anomaly in compensation invited criticism.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Prakriti Srivastava, who is also the special officer for the Rebuild Kerala Development Programme (RKDP), submitted a proposal before the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to enhance the compensation in October 2022.
The standing committee of the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) which met on December 29, 2022, had discussed the matter. After discussions, the standing committee recommended that the financial assistance provided under the Central sponsored scheme ‘Development of Wildlife Habitats for Voluntary Relocation from Protected Forests’ can be enhanced to Rs 15 lakh per family.
The committee observed that voluntary relocation provides an opportunity for people living in forest land to move into the mainstream and at the same time offers an opportunity for the creation of inviolate areas within protected forests.