Protected Area Network in Orissa - Vasundhara

Issues in Chandaka – Dampara Sanctuary• Process of Declaration and Present StatusPrior to 1991, the 1972 WL Act, u/s 18 said that the Government can declare anyarea as a sanctuary and the word ‘intention’ was inserted in 1991. By implication,‘all those protected areas (sanctuaries and national parks) declared prior to 1991 isdeemed to be finally notified u/s 26A (amended in 1991) of the said Act. By thisinterpretation, Chandaka-Dompara wildlife sanctuary, which was created in 1982,is considered as ‘Deemed Sanctuary’.• Issues related to lives and livelihood of peopleProcess of relocation and rehabilitationThe core area of the sanctuary consists of one revenue village with a total strengthof 483 households. The rehabilitation process was initiated in the year 1994 withBehentasahi and Dholakath hamlets. In the first phase the wildlife department hadplanned to rehabilitate only 250 households from Behentasahi, Nuakuo andPithakhai hamlets. Since the other two hamlets, Dholakatha and Dahanigadia aresituated in the periphery so they were left out in the first phase. The idea behindthis was that people from these hamlets would get motivated by others from therehabilitated villages and would of their own move out from the forest area.However, on the intervention of the Collector of Cuttack District, since all thehamlets belong to a single revenue village, shifting in parts is not practicable,hence the idea has to be dropped out and the wildlife department included all thehamlets in their rehabilitation plan. On the other hand the site for resettlement wasidentified only for 250 households and finding out new areas for resettlement ofall the households in five hamlets and agricultural lands nearby have emerged as abig problem before the wildlife department.Amidst these problems till now only 85 households have been resettled outsidethe sanctuary in Krushnanagar and Tulasideipur rehabilitation colonies. Thoughseveral attempts were made by the department to rehabilitate the remaining48