Forest department wants tribals out, Social Welfare departemnt differs

Bengaluru: If civic agencies seem to have no clue what the other is doing in cities, leaving people to suffer the consequences, things are no better in the forests of the state. Only here, the fate of the tiger could be at stake.

While the forest department has been trying hard to relocate families living inside the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in the interest of conservation, the social welfare department has inexplicably decided to build 164 houses for the tribals in different settlements of Nagarhole, jeopardising the relocation plan. The houses are to be built for the tribesmen of Kolangere, Nagarhole and Gonigadde settlements over the next few months, although the forest department has said a strict no for any kind of construction inside the tiger reserve.

Chief Wildlife Warden, Vinay Luthra has now reportedly written to Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee to call an urgent meeting of all the departments concerned to put a to stop to the proposed construction.

“Permission cannot be given under the Forest Conservation Act for building new structures inside tiger reserves. The state government is dedicated to implementing the Tribal Act, but building houses for the tribals in the forests is a strict no. I have not yet met the heads of the departments concerned in this regard,” Mr Mukherjee said.

Wildlife conservationists find the lack of coordination between the two departments hard to understand when they periodically hold meetings. “How can a proposal for such a large project not be discussed at the meeting?” they wonder. In their view, the social welfare department could build the same houses outside the Nagarhole reserve for the tribal families, which are ready to move out of the forests.