Various land transfer cases in and within 10 kilometres of protected forests areas were approved for works including electrification of the Haridwar-Dehradun railway line through Rajaji National Park and six power projects in the meeting of the Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board in Dehradun on Wednesday.
land transfer was also approved for construction of a helipad at Gangotri and strategically important works. The ex-gratia for death of a person in a wild animal attack should be increased from Rs3 lakh to Rs5 lakh while the compensation to the injured should be doubled. A sensitive approach will have to be adopted towards populations near forest areas especially as human-wildlife conflict can be mitigated only with the cooperation of the locals. Action plans should also be drafted for conservation of the snow leopard, musk deer and Monal pheasant. Chief Minister Harish Rawat said this while chairing the meeting of the Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board on Wednesday.
Rawat said that participation of locals in forest and wildlife conservation will have to be ensured and they should get the message that forest conservation activities will benefit the locals. The eco-sensitive zones around protected forest areas should be finalised only after the cabinet’s approval. Rawat said, “An action plan should be made for providing public utilities to those living near forests. local youth should be trained to act as nature guides. To mitigate the damage to forests by floods in rivers, the rivers should be kept out of forest areas as done in Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh so that better flood protection and management is done on the banks while maintaining the natural flow of the river,” he said.
Pointing that many villages have to be rehabilitated out of forests, Rawat said that the land area available for this should be ascertained in a month while a land bank should also be formed. Rehabilitation of villages ready for rehabilitation including Taidiya, Chukam and Sundarkhal should be undertaken on priority basis.
Regarding yarsagumba (Cordyceps Sinesis) some experts pointed out that harvesting it was not detrimental to the environment but the interference of external elements needs to be stopped effectively. Decisions taken in the meeting included formation of the STF in Corbett tiger reserve without delay, development of tourism facilities with local participation along the route to Corbett being opened from Kotdwar and rehabilitation of Khandgaon village from the Chilla-Motichur corridor without delay. Regarding observance of Supreme Court directions on the irrigation colony in Kalagarh tiger reserve, it was decided that the SC would be informed about the limited financial resources of the State and requested to facilitate required budget from the Central Government. Brijendra Singh was made the honourary wildlife warden of Corbett for three years while Rajiv Mehta was accorded this position in Rajaji national park for one year.
The board also approved development of Chaurasi Kutiya in Gohri range of Rajaji for eco-tourism, establishment of a tiger safari along Corbett’s southern boundary, opening an elephant safari park in Rajaji’s Chilla range, increasing the height of the tower for the 132 Kv double circuit power line in Rajaji, formation of a high powered committee headed by Brijendra Singh for mitigation of human-wildlife conflict, creation of a butterfly park at Sattal, Nainital.