With the Tamil Nadu Forest Department in the process of drafting a proposal to create a new tiger reserve in the Erode Forest Division, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has said the rights of forest dwellers needed to be ensured before creation of the reserve.
The division is spread over 82,144 hectares and is home to 15-20 tigers, elephants, leopards and other wild animals. It is surrounded by the Kollegal forest division of Karnataka on the northern side and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve on the western side, and a proposal is being prepared for the creation of a new tiger reserve.
The party held a meeting with people at Bargur Hills recently, in which issues related to the tiger reserve and the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, were discussed. Members said that though creating a reserve would protect tigers, the rights of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers would be badly affected. Though the FRA ensures rights to tribal people, the law was not being implemented in the State, affecting tribal people who depend on forest resources, they added.
V.P.Gunasekaran, State Committee Member, CPI said that there are 34 revenue and forest villages in the division and 35,000 people are dependent on the forest area, some for many generations. “Only after ensuring their rights as given in the FRA, should steps be taken to create a new tiger reserve and that too in a democratic manner”, he added. He said that though tiger reserves are created to protect the animal, tourism activities and the mushrooming of resorts in forest areas were defeating the purpose of protecting the forest resources. “Both the Central and State governments should ensure that the new tiger reserve will not be used for commercialisation purposes or for exploiting resources,” he said.
The party has organised an all-party meeting in the hill area on February 3 to discuss a further course of action.
