Administratively, 21 villages have been selected in the first phase for displacement from 76 villages under the core area of Indravati Tiger Reserve of Chhattisgarh. A deadline has been set to provide the benefit of the government’s displacement scheme to the families of these 21 villages who want to be displaced voluntarily. According to the official information shared by the administration, a date has been set for conducting a village-wise survey for tiger conservation and for the villagers to submit applications. The administration also says that this is being propagated in a wrong manner.
The above things were said by the district administration, forest department and top officials of Indravati Tiger Reserve in a conversation with reporters held in the Indravati room of the Collectorate here. In the press conference, Deputy Director of Indravati Tiger Reserve Sandeep Balga said that earlier the date for survey and submission of application was fixed as 23 August, this date has now been revised to 1 September 2025. It has been decided to determine the age of any adult person who has completed 18 years by 1 September 2025.
A plan has been made to give Rs. 15 lakhs to each adult member of the displaced family of ITR area or to rehabilitate them with basic facilities somewhere else. District Magistrate Sambit Mishra also said that if the villagers living in 21 villages do not get displaced voluntarily, the government will not have any objection. He said that there are many villages in the Tiger Reserve area which are deserted or very few families live in them.
It is up to the villagers whether they take the compensation for displacement or not. Forest Divisional Officer (General) Ram Krishna said that most of the 21 villages selected in the first phase are deserted villages, out of which many families have left the village during Salwa Judum, and there are many Naxal-affected families who have left everything and are living somewhere else. It is worth noting that applications from such families have started coming. During the press conference, SDM Jageshwar Kaushal, ITR officer and villagers of the affected village Pengunda were also present.
