National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Delhi has directed the tiger reserve Palamu to ‘inviolate’ its core areas of its seven villages which are located right inside the tiger reserve said sources.
The 7 villages right inside the core division of the tiger reserve are Gopkhar, Ghulluwa, Henar Bijaypur Pandra Kujroom and latu.
The NTCA has desired that core division of the tiger reserve be free of human habitation. Field director PTR M P Singh who attended this NTCA meet in Kaziranga in Assam said the NTCA’s has asked us to motivate and ready villagers situated in the core division of this tiger reserve to shift from there for which there is a handsome fiscal package like ten lakhs of rupees for one adult in the unit of family if he and the family move out of the tiger reserve. Sources said except for the residents of Kujroom none other villages have expressed any inclination to move out. The NTCA is ready to bear the fiscal burden alongside the state government said sources.
He said apart from this creation of inviolate core division the NTCA further directed the PTR to go for setting up of patrol camps in the tiger reserve. At present there are just 7 patrol camps which are called van gashti chowkiin PTR.
Singh conceded that this PTR requires around 200 such patrol camps ( van gashti chowkis) but it will get a rise from 7 to 40 as a proposal to this effect is being sent to the state government for approval and subsequent allotment too.
Sources said a van gashti chowki be at every 5 Sq Km in tiger reserve as then it will have a strict control and monitor of things going on in the tiger reserve.
NTCA has further directed to build three platoons each of 36 man power to be called as Special Tiger Guards in PTR.
Singh said in each of the three platoons there will be 30 tiger guards and six foresters and these are to be drawn from the able bodied youths belonging to the Adim Jan Jati namely Asur Korwa Birjeeya, Kissan and Parhaiyya etc
Field director said “ I on my own will surely prefer Adim Jan Jati girls to come forward to become tiger guards.’
Sources said the presence of female guards will ward off the pressure of those PTR personnel who face intimidation from village women who not only intrude in PTR for collecting fire wood, seeds, fruits , barks and when the PTR personnel challenge them these women frighten them by telling these men on duty that they will raise the bogey of harassment to them and fearing this the PTR personnel just look the other way while the village women do what they like with the PTR.