32 Villages To Be Relocated To Get Compensatory Land To Panna Tiger Reserve

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The land of at least 32 villages nestled in three districts would be needed to accommodate the wildlife of Panna Tiger Reserve which would get affected due to submergence of 6017 hectares under Ken-Betwa river link project. The endeavours are being made to relocate the identified 32 villages so that their land could be handed over to Panna Tiger Reserve in the coming time.

Interacting with Free Press, Field Director of Panna Tiger Reserve, Anjana Suchita said that around 6017 hectares of land would get submerged once Ken-Betwa project is completed. The equal amount of land would be received by evacuation of 32 villages in three districts namely Damoh, Panna and Chhatarpur.

The wildlife affected by land submergence will move into the areas of these villages which would be developed according to their habitat. Sources said that the district administration of Damoh, Panna and Chhatarpur has even started to work on the process related to evacuation of villages. In some villages even compensation disbursal work is being done.

A report stated that it would be mostly tiger, vultures and gharials which would get affected mostly due to submergence of land for

Ken-Betwa river link project. Panna is having over 500 vultures and number of adult tigers stands at 70. As tigers of Panna also use the corridor to move to Rani Durgawati National Park and Ranipur Tiger Reserve of Uttar Pradesh, under the Panna Landscape Integrated plan, officials of Uttar Pradesh also come to get training on how to manage wildlife which moves from one place to another.

It is learnt that currently Panna forest officials are more focused on holding the workshop in connection with the Panna Landscape Plan which is slated to get implemented within this year.