Rajan and 3,000 other residents of the village are at the risk of losing water and grazing rights. According to the critical tiger habitat guidelines, no non-forestry activity will be tolerated in the core zone, but habitation and limited usage of the buffer zone around the core will be allowed. Though Moyar villagers retain their houses, the grazing lands for their cattle and water resources are inside the core zone.
The collection and sale of cow dung, used as fuel and fertilizer, was one way villagers earned a living. That has stopped with the establishment of more check-points, which do not allow them to take it out. Villagers have also been banned from using mud, stones and grass from the parks that they need to strengthen their huts.
The Chettys
The Moundadan Chettys, whose habitation in the Nilgiris (a part of it is in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve) dates back ages, complain that they have been isolated in their own land, cut off from the outside world and left with no access to basic services since the area was declared a wildlife sanctuary 68 years ago. There are 260 Chetty families in the sanctuary area.
Chain gates erected at the entrance of villages restrict the movement of residents and there are no roads, electricity, health services, educational institutes and communication facilities, says C.R. Krishnan, adviser to the Nilgiri district Moundadan Chetty Community Association.
The Chettys went to court in 1998, petitioning that they be relocated to Ayyangolli outside the protected area. The court, in a February 2007 order, said those willing to relocate may be rehabilitated in the area with equal land and compensation for their houses and trees.
“These people have no other option but to move out and let go of centuries of history and belonging,” said Krishnan.
The relocation for the Chettys has been approved and funds have already been allocated. “Now the revenue department will ascertain the value of the lands and give us the (rehabilitation) plan,” said Srivastava.
But where the Chettys find a sense of belonging, the forest department sees a wildlife habitat.
“As I stood there, I imagined that once the villages were outside, how the whole area would slowly become grassland, from the hills to the plains,” said Srivastava.
(This is the first part of a three-part series; the second part will be about the difficulties facing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.)