Residents of Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary await rehabilitation

Belagavi: Residents of hamlets under the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary have agreed to be rehabili tated according to the wish of the forest department, but the reluctance of government agencies has halted the process since over a year.
In 2011, the Centre declared Bhimgad forest as a wildlife sanctuary. Since then, this forest received extra prote ction and all activities other than forestry were banned.People, who lived here since decades, are preparing mentally to shift to other areas on the condition of appropriate compensation.
More than 4,000 people live in the 13 hamlets of the sanctuary. Eight hamlets are located in the dense forest. People of six hamlets are ready to leave the sanctuary if their demands are met. They changed their mind due to the curb on their usual activities. Other factors like destruction of their crops by wild animals, no compensation for crop loss and health-related issues have also forced them to accept the proposal of the forest department.
Wildlife warden Sachin Patil said that the government sh ould utilize the opportunity in positive way as people of the hamlets have made up their mind. "There is a need for constituting a committee under the assistant commissioner to carry out rehabilitation process," said Patil.
Deputy conservation of forest, Belagavi, wrote to the deputy commissioner a year ago, urging him to constitute a committee to look into the rehabilitation process. However, no development has been made so far.
Parashuram Sateri of Talewadi said that the forest department has provision to pay Rs 10 lakh to each rehabilitating family as compensation, which is very low in present scenario. "The compensation should be increased as families have to give up fertile land. It would be better if the land is given in Khanapur taluk for cultivation," he said.
Deputy commissioner N Jayaram said he will soon take steps to set up the committee to carry out the rehabilitation. He assured that the administration will try to rehabilitate the families in government land in Khanapur taluk.