Officials are also facing prospects of more conflicts with people who are coming into the reserve and trying to reclaim forest land from which they were removed this January as in the case with Gaddamguda in the core area of the tiger reserve
HYDERABAD: The Kawal tiger reserve may be emerging as the new hotspot in the battle between forest department and people encroaching forest areas, with the latest flashpoint of 150 acres, deep inside the core area of the reserve coming to light.
In addition to this, it is learnt that officials are also facing prospects of more conflicts with people who are coming into the reserve and trying to reclaim forest land from which they were removed this January as in the case with Gaddamguda in the core area of the tiger reserve. “This village was removed in January, and they have been back since April and it is becoming an increasingly tough task to evict the encroachers,” a forest department official said.
In a similar incident, a large number of makeshift huts reappeared on Friday at an illegally set-up village, leaving the forest officials wondering what to do next.
According to the officials, they fear that they are being dragged into a traditional tribal vs migrated tribal communities, both of which are occupying fresh areas in the tiger reserve. In one of these encroachments, the officials said they were told flatly by the tribals from the Gond community that action should be first taken against families from the Lambada community encroaching on the forest, who the Gonds say are not from the local tribal communities.
“One community tells us to first take action against the other and if we do so, then they may consider leaving from the encroached areas. There is tremendous pressure to let them be in the forest and not take any action. But we cannot allow this as more people will come and occupy more of the forest,” an official said.
“These encroachments are in the tiger reserve’s core which is supposed to be inviolate. When we seek help from the police, we are told to go slow, or take it easy, because we are told that these are sensitive matters that could go out of hand in an area once known for the presence of left-wing extremism,” the official said.
The official said last month, some 200 people from one community came into the core area and occupied 150 acres. They are not budging even after the district collector told them what they are doing cannot be allowed. “If the tiger reserve and its forest have to be saved, the government must step in to stop these encroachments and remove them, and make it clear that it will not tolerate such actions,” a senior forest department official said.
