THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, June 21: 56 households of the village Kujrum are in the way of their resettlement and rehabilitation after decades of their living in deprivation and denial in the core forest of the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR).
These 56 households have themselves volunteered to move out of the core area of the Palamu Tiger Reserve.
They held their numerous meetings of the highest body Gram Sabha where they unanimously decided to shift from the core area of the Palamu Tiger Reserve in their own largest interest of living.
It’s not any displacement or ‘visthapan’ at all as displacement is under the order of the state machinery while here with the 56 households, it is their resolution to live outside the tiger reserve so that they can avail the facilities as preferred by the government since their living in the core area of the Palamu Tiger Reserve had deprived and denied them of their most basic facilities which are offered time to time by the government.
As the village Kujrum falls in the Latehar district, the district relocation committee there too held a series of meetings with the locals of Kujrum who in writing agreed to move out of the territory of the Palamu Tiger Reserve.
Again the Palamu Tiger Reserve neither coerced, tempted, induced nor pressured any of the households in Kujrum to exit from Kujrum. The call to exit was the individual cum collective decision of the Kujrum people who wanted to secure ‘a happy future of their younger generation’.
Deputy Commissioner of Palamu Shashi Ranjan told this correspondent late last night “56 households of the village Kujrum are going to be resettled and rehabilitated at a huge chunk of land at Polpol under the Sadar subdivision here.”
DC Shashi Ranjan emphatically used the term resettlement/rehabilitation for these 56 households who as he went on to say that “These 56 would enjoy all the amenities and welfare and developmental schemes of the government during their second lease of life. They will see themselves what a great change for the betterment of life comes to them in the course of time.”
Also Read- Jharkhand News: ED seizes one crore cash and 100 live bullets from land dealer Kamlesh’s premises
The PTR has given each of the 56 households 5 acres of land. It’s a forest land which is being given but it will not come as any obstacle to them in having its title of possession.
Around 133 hectares of forest land have been identified and allocated for the resettlement of the 56 households of the village Kujrum.
There are skeptics who raise questions in regard to the nature of the land which is a forest land, truly. For them the chunk of the forest land has been compensated by becoming a non-forest land and hence it is free for many of the embargoes that come with the forest land.
DC Shashi Ranjan told this correspondent “We will get their 5 acres of land each registered for which the ‘registry’ is to be made free.”
A free registry means no fee for the stamp for registry. It’s a big relief to the 56 households going to be a legal raiyyat of the land.
Again DC Shashi Ranjan has assured to readdress their Aadhar cards and bank accounts. Their Aadhar cards bear the address of the Kujrum. Now it will be Polpol. The administration will get it done for them, reiterated the DC.
Similar efforts will be for their bank accounts for the purpose of various types of pension like widow pension, old age pension, Divyangjan pension, reminded the DC.
Their MGNREGA job cards will be re-addressed. As for their health, Ayushman card will be corrected.
Big of all, their ration card will retain their right to have ration here too at Polpol added DC Shashi Ranjan.
“This is going to be a first of its kind here in Jharkhand where households on their own are moving out of the core area of the Palamu Tiger Reserve bag and baggage with hope and trust in the start of the second innings of life and the district administration of Palamu stands by them through thick and thin.” reiterated the DC.
A very painstaking effort of the deputy director Kumar Ashish ably supported by the field director Kumar Ashutosh and another deputy director P K Jena in recent months, this issue of self-exiting from Kujrum to the location of the mainstream living saw many hiccups in the past.
The self exiting of the Kujrum households was dangling from hope to despair to hope over the last 15 years or so here in the PTR where unsuspecting Kujrum people were fed with more disinformation than real information.
