After over a week’s absence, Minister for TCP, Health and Forests, Vishwajit Rane, made his presence felt in the Legislative Assembly, launching a fiery offensive when questioned whether forest land destroyed by fire could eventually be converted into Settlement. Rane gave a complete account of how his department went into overdrive, engaging all the resources available to bring the fires under control and restrict the damage.
Incidentally, while the fires have seen an exponential spike from 33 cases in the past to 104 now, with human hand being identified as the cause, there was nothing on record, and the reason for the fire remained a mystery. The point of debate, however, was a letter written by Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira linking the forest fires to the builders’ lobby that prompted the forest minister to rise and counter the MLA. Only later in the day on Thursday, when there was a discussion on the demands and Ferreira placed documents to show how forest lands were converted in the past by exploiting a loophole, did reality dawn.
The forest discussion also veered around the much-debated tiger reserve, with the forest minister sticking to his guns of taking legal remedy to the high court order. While the resident versus non-resident tiger was not part of the discourse, Rane made a case of “thousands of families” being impacted. He stressed that families residing in the forest areas of Canacona, Sanguem and Darbandora would also be affected along with Sattari. Earlier, Poriem MLA Deviya Rane had stated that around 5,000 to 15,000 people in forest areas of Sattari would be affected. While there is an intense discussion over displaced families, there is no concerted move to put a definite figure to the number of people in the reserve’s core area. Also, there are no answers on how the forest department report said that few people will be displaced.
If the department makes a case against the tiger reserve in the apex court, it must present the impact on human lives. The resident and non-resident argument or the logic of Goa not meeting the criteria does not hold water.
The foremost step that the forest minister must initiate is to ascertain the exact number of people residing in the core areas of the land coming under the tiger reserve. Engage a more extensive section of people in this exercise to show transparency and then carry forward the discourse on the tiger.
While there is truth in the argument that those outside the forest areas will not understand the plight of people living there for decades, there is another truth that nobody believes in vague numbers.
It may be noted that while the relocation of people is cited as a hurdle in Goa, a Goan bureaucrat serving in the IAS in Madhya Pradesh has been instrumental in relocating a dozen villages from the Satpura Tiger Reserve in the Narmadapuram district of the State. It became a seamless exercise because people were taken into confidence and assured fair compensation in terms of either money or land. Even names of villages were retained when people were relocated as a community, and locations identified were in proximity to their original homes.
Government data tabled in the House shows that there have been 41 tiger sightings in the past five years, which is enough to establish the presence of tigers in the forest belt. Putting a roadblock to the tiger reserve is not the solution. The forest minister must look into this issue from a broader perspective and take a calculated decision.
