KALPETTA: A meeting of the district implementation committee for the voluntary relocation project in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), chaired by District Collector S. Suhas, decided to expedite steps to relocate families from the Chetyalathur settlement, the largest and remotest settlement inside the sanctuary, in a time-bound manner.
As many as 182 eligible families, including 77 tribal families, in the settlement will be relocated in the first phase of the Centre’s Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat Scheme (IDWHS). Each family should submit separate application to the wildlife warden for the purpose. There are 232 families in the settlement.
The meeting also decided to provide ₹6 lakh each to 68 families that had already submitted applications, as the first instalment.
Each eligible family will be provided ₹10 lakh under the project, and the remaining sum will be granted soon, Mr. Suhas said after the meeting.
The estimated cost of the project is ₹23.20 crore, and it will be shared on a 60:40 basis by the Central and State governments.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests will release ₹13.86 crore for the project, while the remaining amount will be provided by the State government.
According to a study conducted by the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, in 2010, as many as 1,388 people belonging to 880 families in 14 settlements inside the sanctuary need to be relocated in the first phase at an estimated cost of ₹80 crore.
“The Forest Department had submitted an ₹80 crore proposal four years ago, and the Ministry had allocated ₹40 crore for the purpose,” N. Badusha, president, Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti, said.
If the project is implemented in a time-bound manner, it will help curb incidents of man-animal conflict in the district, he added.
All eligible families will be provided a compensation of ₹10 lakh each, irrespective of the nature of the land they possess.
