The Himachal Pradesh (HP) government said it has paid Rs 1.8 crore to the locals who claimed to have rights over the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) that is vying for the coveted World Heritage Site status.
Earlier, Himalayan Niti Abhiyan, an environmental NGO has written a letter to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) demanding rights of local people to be addressed first before granting the world heritage status to Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district.
“All the rights of villages living close to GHNP have been settled and compensation paid following the process mentioned in the Wildlife Protection Act 1972,” Sanjeeva Pandey , Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, HP said.
In 1999, the process of settlement of rights of local people (which were mostly of herb collection and grazing their sheep and goats) in the Park was completed and a sum of Rs 1,79,76,433 was awarded to those who had rights on the area.
The GHNP is one of the richest biodiversity sites in the Western Himalyas. Experts from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had recently visited the Park for its possible inclusion in 2013's World Heritage List.
Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972, it is required to issue an initial notification for the area to be constituted as a National Park. This initial notification for the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) was issued in 1984.
According to the provisions of this Act, the final notification of the creation of the Park can be issued only after the State government has settled the existing claims of livelihoods, (rights) in the proposed National Park area.
The Kaziranga National Park and the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, the Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks in Uttarakhand and the Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal are other areas in India that are already on UNESCO 's world heritage list.
