PANAJI
The High Court’s judgment directing the State government to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve has led to widespread fears, especially in Sattari, that thousands would be affected in the process.
While activists dispute any large-scale displacement of population, there have been instances elsewhere in the country where entire villages had been successfully relocated from Tiger Reserves.
In one such case, a senior Goan bureaucrat had grappled with a similar challenge about a decade ago while serving in the IAS in Madhya Pradesh.
When Tino de Sá was appointed chief secretary of MP, he got all departments -- Forest, Revenue (Mamlatdar), PWD, Rural Development, PHE and Energy -- to work together in relocating about a dozen villages from the Satpura Tiger Reserve (areas bordering Pachmarhi).
“I would not like to take all the credit myself, as nothing is done singlehandedly. I had a good band of officers, especially in the forest department at that time, and so we were able to achieve this,” acknowledged Tino de Sá, an author, poet and civil servant who went on to be one of the longest serving chief secretaries of Madhya Pradesh.
STRATEGY
Recollecting his template in relocating the villages, De Sá said the entire project was successful mainly because affected locals were taken into confidence, they were assured compensation and facilities in the relocated areas, and officials from various departments worked with dedication and commitment.
“The packages offered by the government (financed from a central government fund) offered either land or money. The money component was generally quite generous, so most opted for that, especially because the land given to them was usually fallow and scattered. So, intelligently, they took the money, and a few months later, went to another part of the forest,” said De Sá.
ASSURANCES
After talking to villagers, and hearing their side of the issue, De Sá gave them four assurances.
“First, we would re-locate them as a community, not scatter them around. So, the village settlement would move as a whole. We would even retain the name of the village at the new location, if they so wanted,” recalled De Sá.
“Second, we would not take them far away from the jungle, but would find locations on the edge of the forest/buffer area. We also told them that while the farmland we allot them could be at some distance from the new settlement, each plot for a house would have some additional area attached, to grow vegetables and keep animals.”
“Third, we would not force them to vacate their existing homes until a road was built in the new location, an Anganwadi (and primary school, if necessary), and a centre for the ASHA workers (Accredited Social Health Activist) who work with women and children, for immunisation, child nutrition, menstrual health, contraception, etc. Also, a hand pump with clean drinking water, and electricity connection would be assured.”
De Sá said in the fourth assurance, the forest department would give priority in recruiting forest guards from relocated families, as well as to train those who had the ability to act as guides in the buffer area of the Tiger Reserve.
BENEFITS
In exchange for what they were willing to do, De Sá asked that each family not opt only for land or only for cash, but a combination of the two, adding that the scheme entitled each adult married child to claim compensation as a separate family.
“This way, each family would get land, as well as cash which they could use to build houses in the plots,” said De Sá.
“The first two villages took some persuading, but with the CS taking personal interest, and an outstanding band of dedicated and committed forest officers, the other departments all fell in line.”
“We dismantled old settlements and assisted villagers in taking their belongings, and whatever they chose to salvage, in the form of chaukhats - door frames and window frames etc. Within a year, we created the promised new settlements. The relocated villagers enthusiastically built their new homes according to their own designs. It was so heart-warming,” recalled De Sá.
After creating the first two new settlements, De Sá said other delegations of villagers approached him and also wanted their villages to be relocated.
“In three years, we not only relocated about a dozen villages, but I got to see the fruits of our efforts: the places where settlements used to be, were in just two monsoons, overgrown with first-class grazing grass, and shrubs, and huge herds of cheetal (spotted deer) and black buck. Even bison would occupy the areas at dusk.”
HOPE
De Sá added that when he had last heard about the relocated villagers a few years ago, they were doing very well.
“It is unlikely that after 5-6 years in a new location, they would return to the forest. Their children are now in schools, they have jobs, agricultural land, and pucca homes. Also, they are not divorced from the forest, but live in the vicinity,” he said.
“I think that if relocation efforts are taken up sensitively, it can be done. It is just that forest officers cannot be left to do it all by themselves; the other departments of government, especially the revenue department in locating suitable land, and the rural development department in putting infrastructure at the new location, need to co-operate and do their bit.
