Angul: Officials of the forest department in this district are trying to relocate and rehabilitate residents of three villages as they pose a threat to the big cats in the Satkosia Tiger Sanctuary. If the villages can be relocated an additional 50 acre of land can be added to the sanctuary and it will facilitate the free movement of the tigers and other wild animals. Otherwise chances of human-animal conflict continue to grow. Since 2019, the officials of the forest department have been persuading the villagers to relocate, but to no avail.
The three villages come under the Purunakot, Pumpsar, Tikarpada, Raiguda and Jhilida forest range.
Forest department officials are offering attractive sops to the residents of the three villages if they agree to relocate. A proper rehabilitation programme has also been worked out for the villagers if they agree to shift.
P Ramaswami, The DFO of Satkoshia Sanctuary, said that the Odisha government will provide all facilities to the villagers who have basically been living a life of deprivation. The villagers will be provided thatched houses that later on will be made pucca, Ramaswami said. The new places will have proper roads, electricity connection and drinking water facilities. Currently these are not available to the residents of the three villagers who have been asked to relocate.
Ramaswami also said that each family of the three displaced villages will be given Rs 10 lakh by the forest department. Also each family will receive four decimal of land for construction of their houses. The new settlement will have facilities like ponds, cremation ground, community centre, playground and health centre. The villagers will also be included under various welfare schemes of the Centre and Odisha government like Indira Awas Yojana and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. There will be old-age pension for those who cannot work.
It should be mentioned here that the forest department officials were successful in relocating the inhabitants of Raigoda village. Seventy eight families had been relocated to a different place as their village had come under the tiger reserve project of Satkosia sanctuary. Officials are citing this as an example to the residents of the three villages who need to be relocated.
PNN