Residents of forest villages in Jholar, Ajanpur and Sukdi situated in the Kanha National Park have raised voice against alleged use of coercion by the Forest Department officials to remove them from the tiger reserve areas.
Allegations of widespread irregularities and corruption have also come to fore in the rehabilitation work of the families already displaced from the tiger reserve area.
Organised under the banner of 'Gondwana Mukti Sena' (Gondwana liberation Army), villagers in the national park villages accuse that forest department officials have threatened them by saying that they should willingly leave the place by accepting the relief amount of `10 lakh otherwise they would be forcibly removed without a penny.
Former legislator Darbu Singh Uikey, in a letter addressed to media, alleged that the forest department officials have misappropriated large amounts of money from the relief fund that was provided for the displaced families of Bithali, Bainda, Jami, Rol and other villages.
He has demanded that a probe should be instituted against the forest department officials to unearth the actual extent of the financial irregularities. Uikey has also alleged that in order to coerce the forest dwelling families to leave the villages, the forest department has put barriers on the roads linking the villages of Jholar, Ajanpur and Sukdi.
"The poor villagers who move across these barriers are harassed by the officials. It doesn't stop there, on several occasions, the relatives of families living in the villages are not allowed entering these villages," he alleged. He has also told that if the Government does not look into the matter soon, the affected villagers led by 'Gondwana Mukti Sena' would stage fierce protests on May 15 at Jholar village.