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Dehradun: Dehradun's Rajaji National Park has been granted a new lease of life, after the Van Gujjar community, living in the vicinity of the Park, has been rehabilitated in other areas. About 1390 Van Gujjar families had been living in the National Park area for many generations. Around 732 such families have been rehabilitated, and efforts are on to move the rest of the settlers too. "In the last two years, the park's biggest problem has been... and we have dealt with it in a humane manner. The present generation of Gujjars staying here were feeling unprotected and insecure. They also felt that they were losing out in the benefits of development taking place in the country. We utilised these sentiments in giving the rehabililation programme, which has been going on from the past 30 years now, a new direction. We assured them (Gujjars) that we will include them in the development projects. They supported us and the results are here for all to see," explains Navprabhat, Forest Minister, Uttaranchal. This community was primarily involved in selling milk and tending to their cattle which were wrecking havoc on the nearby grasslands due to incessant grazing. A monitoring team is surveying the area for changes that have taken place from December onwards, when the Gujjar families were moved from here. Their members are happy with what they observed. The grassland that had been nearly destroyed by the grazing have revived. The number of animals, like cheetal and elephants, seems to have gone up. Sex ratio in elephants, as compared to that in southern India, has also improved as has the breeding rate. "The area has improved within one season itself. The number of animals has increased, new grass hs grown. I feel, to make the Park successful, we would require the Central Government's aid because the consolidation would require staff and finance. Rajaji National Park can become as sucessful as Corbett Natioanl Park, if we make the effort," says Kunwar Brijendar Singh, a wildlife expert.
The Gujjar community also seems to have complied without a protest.
Without any land or development activity, they were staying in the Park
out of compulsion. "If we get the land, we will move..there is no question
of any conflict. There is no problem," says Yusuf, a Van Gujjar. However,
the community expects a lot from the Government.They are looking forward
to sops like cultivable land and education for their children. The increased
sighting of aniamls and improved conditions have added to the attraction
of the area and more and more tourists are expected to visit the Park.
One more Kerala scheme to loot unsuspecting tourists (Go to Top) Alappuzha (Kerala): With the collusion of over-enthusiatic Government officials, cargo boats, which are rendered usless due to construction of roads, are being converted to house boats in Kerala, with a view to fleecing unsuspecting tourists and looting the treasury in the name of tourist schemes. The scheme claims to serve a two-fold purpose of providing both employment to carpenters and giving a boost to the state's tourism industry. Simple wooden planks that were once used to float in the backwaters of Kerala, are now being used to create houseboats with posh interiors, sit-out and modern kitchens. With an improvement in roads and the cargo boats being rendered useless, the state's tourism department conceived the idea of converting the latter into house boats ala Kashmiri style. "In the recent times, the cargo boats have been in demand, which were lying useless for some time owing to the construction of roads. House boats have become popular in Kerala's tourism. Hence, many people are buying the old cargo vessels, converting the same into house boats. It may cost them around 10 lakhs or more", said Satheeshan, a dock owner. According to Joji Mathew, Director, Rainbow Cruise, "We came into house boat operation in the year 2000. At that time there were no quality house boats. Kerala Tourism came up with the classification of house boats. We come under the Boat Star Category. We started giving more aqua-friendliness to the back waters." "We have AC and non-AC boats with all modern facilities. Now we are coming up with five more boats which won't spill a drop of sewage into the backwaters and it will protect the backwaters." The space in a cargo boat is enough to construct two rooms with an attached toilet, they say. More than 600 boats have been converted to house boats so far with the facilities of AC rooms and conference halls.
In almost half of rural Kerala, water and boats are a part and parcel
of daily life. When sightseeing of vast tracks of backwaters and greens
should ideally be a walking pleasure for outsiders costing not a penny,
newer and newer schemes are being devised to trap and fleece the unsuspecting
tourists. 'Adhithi Devo Bhava'! |
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