Kozhikode
The State government will have to walk a tightrope between evicting the encroachers from forest lands and complying with the Supreme Court order to regularise encroachments made prior to January 1, 1977.
“For various reasons, the government could not evict the encroachers until now. At present, we need to re-examine the complex issue in detail and if required, hold separate discussions with all stakeholders to reach a positive conclusion,” Minister for Forest and Wildlife A.K. Saseendran, said in an interview to The Hindu.
He said the government faced a difficult situation to evict the illegal settlers as well take possession of the forest lands. “We have to chalk out a mechanism to effectively implement the rules,” the Minister said.
Going by news reports, Mr. Saseendran also indicated that small and large encroachment of forest lands were taking place in the State. “The government is committed to stopping further encroachments and is also tasked with evicting the unlawful settlers,” he said, adding all forest land occupied after January 1, 1977, would be identified and recovered as per the law.
On the contentious issue of classification of buffer zones, he said the government had already issued some orders to resolve the problems surrounding wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, biosphere reserves, and other protected areas. “This issue will also be examined in detail,” he said.
He also said steps would be taken to rework the parameters in the 123 grama panchayats set by the Kasturirangan report for ecologically sensitive areas. “Even after rectifications to review the areas at the ward-levels, the government has been subjected to criticisms. We have not been able to satisfy the farmers. At the same time, the government is committed to protecting the forest lands. An extensive study is required to tackle the issue,” Mr. Saseendran said.
On human-wildlife conflict, Mr. Saseendran said that the department had to come up with new measures to manage wildlife as well as protect the resources of human settlements. “Wild animals are not only destroying crops but are also involved in killing human beings. Protection strategies will have to be worked out to stop wild animals from straying into villages,” he said.
Agricultural fences were quite effective against wild animals attacking people and damaging crops. Trenches to prevent elephants from entering cultivated areas had also yielded results to some extent. But the department could not take steps that disturb the natural habitat and movement of wild animals. “The man-animal conflict is a composite issue that cannot be easily solved. Proper studies still have to be conducted to take practical steps,” Mr. Saseendran said.
