Govt intends to relocate 1 lakh families from tiger reserves

Govt intends to relocate 1 lakh families from tiger reserves

June 10,2009
Source: PTI

Bangalore, Jun 10 (PTI) In a bid to clear human settlements from protected areas meant for tigers, the Centre intends to relocate one lakh families from 37 tiger reserves in the country in the next five to ten years.

Announcing this, Union Minister of State for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh today said the new compensation package for such people is Rs 10 lakh a family, which meant Rs 10,000 crore would have to be spent.

He said the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission assured that funds would not be a constraint in the project.

Ramesh said 736 families had already been relocated from Bhadra tiger reserve in Karnataka and the state government has submitted a proposal to relocate 1,300 families from Kudremukh National Park, which would be supported by the Centre.

He said a tripartite MoU would be signed between the state governments, National Tiger Conservation Authority and Project Tiger to manage funds for resettlement and rehabilitation of the relocated families.

Ramesh also asserted that the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was supreme and there was no question of diluting it.

“The Act has been very instrumental in protecting our forests”, the minister told reporters, adding that the Centre would come out with an Environment Protection Authority.

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