Evicting forest land encroachers a tight rope walk for Kerala government

Kozhikode

The State government should walk a tightrope between evicting the encroachers from forest lands and complying with the Supreme Court order to regularise encroachments made previous 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, mentioned in an interview to The Puucho.

He mentioned the government confronted a tough state of affairs to evict the unlawful settlers as nicely take possession of the forest lands. “We have to chalk out a mechanism to effectively implement the rules,” the Minister mentioned.

Going by information studies, Mr. Saseendran additionally indicated that small and enormous encroachment of forest lands had been going down within the State. “The government is committed to stopping further encroachments and is also tasked with evicting the unlawful settlers,” he mentioned, including all forest land occupied after January 1, 1977, can be recognized and recovered as per the regulation.

On the contentious concern of classification of buffer zones, he mentioned the government had already issued some orders to resolve the issues surrounding wildlife sanctuaries, nationwide parks, biosphere reserves, and different protected areas. “This issue will also be examined in detail,” he mentioned.

He additionally mentioned steps can be taken to transform the parameters within the 123 grama panchayats set by the Kasturirangan report for ecologically delicate 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 mentioned.

On human-wildlife battle, Mr. Saseendran mentioned that the division needed to provide you with new measures to handle wildlife in addition to defend the assets 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 mentioned.

Agricultural fences had been fairly efficient in opposition to wild animals attacking folks and damaging crops. Trenches to forestall elephants from getting into cultivated areas had additionally yielded outcomes to some extent. But the division couldn’t take steps that disturb the pure habitat and motion of untamed 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 mentioned.