New Delhi: Kerala government has sought Rs 200 crore from the Centre for relocation of tribals facing threat from wild animals to a safer place.
Thousand families will be moved in the first phase and will be paid a compensation of Rs 20 lakh each. It was Rs 10 lakh earlier, said Kerala Forest Minister K Raju.
He handed over a written request for central assistance to Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Five hundred of the 725 tribal settlements in the state are in protected forests. They house 25,000 families and of them 10,000 of them are ready to be relocated, the Kerala government estimates.
The centre has already paid Rs 81.58 crore to the state, its share of the compensation for takeover of forest land for non-forestry purposes by government agencies.
Raju also sought centre’s intervention to decrease the use of plastic bags in which saplings used in reforestation are packed. About one crore such plastic bags make way to Kerala every year. However, alternatives like coir and coconut husk are expensive.
Principal Forest Conservator PK Kesavan also accompanied Raju.
