Villagers who gave land to tiger reserve protest

Kolhapur: Frustrated at not being rehabilitated for a decade after giving up their land and homes for the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) project, several local residents protested outside the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests, Kolhapur, at noon on Friday. The protesters came together under the Shramik Mukti Dal with a set of demands. Maruti Patil, a farmer who had to give up his land, said, “The forest department officials value the lives of tigers over that of humans. For the last 33 days, we have been protesting and are on an indefinite strike outside the District Collectorate.” He added, “While the officials claim that only a small amount of compensation is pending, in reality, they have not given us anything. All the documents have been handed to them as per the list, but no further action has been taken. Till our demands are not met, we won’t call off the protest.”Another protestor, Nazeer Chougule, said forest officials have only been giving them false hopes that things will be done. “Our demands are simple. We were promised 215 hectares of land in exchange for the 287 hectares that were taken from us, approval for which has been pending for years now. We want this to be expedited. We also want an appraisal and distribution of the compensation, which was supposed to be paid for the counted plots, houses and fruit trees. We further want construction grants of Rs1,61,400 each to build houses,” Chougule said. He added, “There is a delay of 15-20 days from the forest department office in disbursing interest on 65% of the amount, sustenance allowance and the gotha and toilet subsidy.” Check out the Valentine Day 2025 , along with the Valentine’s Day Wishes and Messages.