PolicyForests
Chouhan promises ₹15 lakh and five acres to each family leaving Nilgarh for the forest's sake
The Union Agriculture Minister said the families moving out of the Raisen district village to make room for forests and wildlife were making a sacrifice, and that he would attend their farewell.
Key points
- Each relocating family from Nilgarh will get ₹15 lakh, including ₹5 lakh for a house.
- Families will also receive five acres of farmland along the highway at Naya Nilgarh.
- Shivraj Singh Chouhan called the move a sacrifice for forests and wildlife.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday announced a rehabilitation package of ₹15 lakh for every family moving out of Nilgarh, a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district that is being vacated to protect the surrounding forest and its wildlife.
Of that sum, ₹5 lakh is meant for building a new house. Each family will also get five acres of farmland along the highway at the new settlement, Naya Nilgarh.
“I first pay my respects to their sacrifice,” Chouhan said. “It is a sacrifice to leave one’s home and village for the sake of forests and wildlife.”
Chouhan, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, said the more generous package was settled during his time in that post so that the families would be properly resettled. He said he would attend the families’ final gathering at Nilgarh-Dhanwani, along with the local MLA, to honour them before they leave.
Relocation of villages from forest land and wildlife habitats is a long-standing and often contested part of conservation policy in central India, where the size of compensation and the quality of land offered tend to decide whether families are willing to move. Chouhan did not say how many families are leaving Nilgarh or when the move will be complete.
Earlier in the week, on Thursday, Chouhan launched the nationwide Khet Bachao Abhiyan from Taraori in Haryana’s Karnal district.