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| Centre mulls WB's help in relocating villagers from reserve |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Dec 09, 2009, 14:12 IST |
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Faced with the massive relocation task of villagers from tiger reserves, the Centre is considering to rope in the World Bank for monetary aid to ensure the sustainable development of locals in non-forest fringe areas.
"We have to relocate over 100,000 families from 38 tigers reserves in the country, of which only 3,000 have been shifted out so far. "We need to enhance land productivity and diversify occupational activity in the fringe areas to ensure that relocated villagers do not try to return to their original habitat (reserves)," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said at a function here.
He said World Bank help is being mooted for the task and on an experimental basis, one pilot project each in Uttarakhand (Rajaji-Corbett Tiger Reserve) and Madhya Pradesh (Satpura Tiger Reserve) has been proposed.
He said it would also act as an incentive for the state governments who will get the fund from the international financial institution to execute the task.
"We need to think really differently how to make the states partners in this endeavour. As the pace of development will increase the pressure (on habitat) will also increase. "As the states have to be involved in conservation management, in the NTCA meeting next month we will ensure that they are one of the key stakeholders in tiger protection through World Bank aid," Ramesh said.
As per the proposal, the core and buffer areas will remain untouched while all fringe areas around the national park, project tiger areas and sanctuaries will be improved for livelihood security and diversified occupation.
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