Of Goa’s 1424.40 sq. km. forest cover, an estimated 53% areahas been brought under Protected Area of Wildlife Sanctuaries and NationalPark. The confusion however is that 87% of these protected areas have not beendeclared as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Park. The government has onlydeclared its intention to constitute the said area into a sanctuary and hencethe very question of buffer zones too, suspect by law. But the ForestAuthorities have let loose a realm of fear in the forest dwellers minds. “InBottor, where the Mhadei meets the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary, largeswathes of land have been barricaded. Traditional access has been closed andforest officers bully us”, says Santosh Naik of Gavarnem.
Malapan’s Babu Zore talks of how they cannot even carry outthe normal rearing of cattle. “The forest officials would not allow us to use aforest clearing as a playground for children, even though there was novegetation, saying that wild animals get disturbed” alleges Zore. The fear ofreserve forest has not yet gone out of their lives, the implementation ofbuffer zones is renewing fears of more oppression by forest rangers.
