Violations flagged in relocation project at Kali Tiger Reserve

Activists have flagged violations at the Kali Tiger Reserve relocation project, entailing the shifting of villagers outside the forests, as the consent of the Grama Sabhas were not obtained nor meetings conducted before carrying out the exercise.

While the exercise has been touted as a model for voluntary relocation and rehabilitation, information sourced through RTI by activists indicates a flouting of the law.

As per the scheme, the relocation of forest-dwelling communities requires the consent of the gram sabhas concerned. Only after its consent is obtained can the proposals be placed before the district-level committee headed by the deputy commissioner of the respective districts. This is as per the guidelines of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority as well.

However, information gathered from various Gram Sabhas in the Uttara Kannada district, where the scheme is being implemented, reveals that no meetings have taken place at all in many of the places.

Incidentally, MLC Shantaram Siddi raised this issue in the Council early this year, and the Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre informed the House that 498 families were relocated from the Kali Tiger Reserve between 2020 and 2025 after payment of compensation.

As per the reply given by the minister families were moved from villages and hamlets under Anshi, Ulavi, Kateli, Gangoda, Bajarkunang, Nandigadde, Badakan-Shirada, Kadra and Pradhani Gram Panchayats, spread across Dandeli, Joida and Karwar taluks.

But information procured through RTI indicates that at many places including Ulavi, Gangoda, Nandigadde, Badakan-Shirada, Kadra, Gotegali and Ambikanagar, no Gram Sabha meetings were held during the relocation period and the legal requirement was overlooked or bypassed on multiple occasion, according to activists.

The MLC was also informed the Council that 32 families were relocated from villages under Gangoda Gram Panchayat, 15 families from Kalabhavi village under Badakan-Shirada Panchayat, and 18 families from Sulali hamlet under Kadra Panchayat.

But sources said that respective Panchayats have confirmed that no Gram Sabha meetings were conducted.

Questions are being raised as to how the relocation proposals were cleared by the district-level committee without the consent of Gram Sabhas, as mandated by the law. Activists are questioning the conservation model in which local communities have been relocated without the consent of the Gram Sabhas while tourism is promoted and underline the skewed policies of the government.