The voluntary resettlement scheme aimed at the rehabilitation of landowners on the forest fringes as part of the Rebuild Kerala Initiative is drawing good response from many who have been complaining of wild animal menace and huge crop loss. Chempanoda village, one of the worst-affected locations in the upland areas, has the highest number of such eligible applicants in Kozhikode district.
A special committee entrusted with the screening work has so far cleared 75 applications in this village for further proceedings. The applications were provisionally approved after verifying a number of legal documents proving the actual ownership over the property. There were altogether 175 applications in which the ineligible ones or those entangled in ownership disputes were excluded.
Forest Department officials say the next phase is to complete the land survey work based on the already verified documents submitted to the State-level Project Management Unit. On completion of the survey work, the details of compensation will be informed to each applicant. The takeover will be ratified by the State-level empowered committee for the distribution of funds in different instalments.
The resettlement scheme introduced by the government in 2019 with the support of the World Bank and the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board promises ₹15 lakh for two hectares with clear title deeds. Apart from this, each adult member of the family or differently abled persons will be eligible to get a compensation of ₹15 lakh. In the case of those who have more than two hectares, each additional hectare will be treated as a single household and will be granted ₹15 lakh.
“Based on the already verified documents, the survey work can be carried out to clearly mark the boundaries in about 115 acres near the forest area in the first phase. Only very few houses are located on these forest fringes, which will simplify the further procedures,” says Forest Range Officer (Peruvannamuzhi) K.V. Biju. He points out that the resettlement scheme is likely to cover about 500 hectares in Chempanoda village alone.
Project opposed
Meanwhile, a section of farmers have opposed the relocation project alleging that it will only end up in widening the existing forest area to the human settlements. According to the Functionaries of We Farm, a prominent settler farmers’ organisation in the district, the scheme is mainly supported by people who stay elsewhere and want to dispose of their unused land near the forest area. What we seek is the protection of our crops through other practical interventions, they add.
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