Protected Area Network in Orissa - Vasundhara

Issues in Kotgarh Sanctuary• Process of Declaration and Present StatusKotgarh Wildlife Sanctuary was declared under section 18 of the Wildlife(Protection) Act 1972, in 1981 (dated 3 rd December 1981, notification no. 30253).However, proceedings under section 19-25 with regard to enquiry of claims andsettlement of rights of local residents necessary for final notification was carriedout only after 1988 in response to the Supreme Court’s order. In 1995 a writpetition was filed by the Centre for Environmental Law and WWF-I Vrs Union ofIndia and other. In accordance with the petition, Supreme Court has asked all thestate governments to take necessary and immediate steps for completion of allprocedures for the final notification by the year 1988. As of now, procedure undersection 19-25 has been completed in 1999 but the final notification for wildlifesanctuary is not published yet.• Controversy over existence of un-surveyed villagesAccording to official sources there exists 65 villages under 12 Gram Panchayatsinside the Kotagarh Wildlife Sanctuary. In reality however, apart from the revenuevillages, there are few more habitations inside the sanctuary area without anyclaims in the revenue record of rights otherwise are being termed asencroachments. Over the existence of these settlements, there exist different viewswithin the two departments, Revenue Department and Forest Department. In 1995a verification was undertaken by Revenue Department according to which against23 unsurveyed hamlets(termed as encroached) located inside reserve forests, casesof revenue offences has been recorded much before the commencement of theForest Conservation Act, 1980.The Revenue Department though wanted to conferthese 23 hamlets the status of revenue village but since the same were within thelimits of the sanctuary the forest department didn’t agree with the proposal ofRevenue department and called for a joint verification which was carried out on16 th May 1995. According to the Forest Department only those hamlets will begiven the status of a revenue village against whom there are evidences of revenue69