The BJP’s Poriem MLA Deviya Rane on Thursday stated that thousands of people will get affected if a tiger reserve is notified in the state.
Speaking during the demands in the ongoing assembly session, Deviya Rane, Chairperson of the Goa Forest Development Corporation (GFDC), said that those living in the comfort zones in the city will not know how people live in wildlife sanctuaries, who lived there much before it was declared as sanctuary.
The Bombay High Court on Monday had directed the state government to notify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve within three months.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by ‘Goa Foundation’ (a local NGO). It had sought direction from the court to notify a Tiger Reserve in the state.
Ten days ago, Goa government had rejected the proposal to set up a Tiger reserve in the state, by claiming that state’s small wildlife sanctuaries did not fit the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) criteria for setting up a Tiger reserve.
“I respect the order of the High Court. Many people are in favour of it. But my constituency comes under Mhadei sanctuary. Mhadei sanctuary was declared in 1999, however people have been staying there since the past many decades,” she said.
Deviya Rane said that thousands of people will get affected if Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary is notified as a Tiger Reserve.
“People living in the city have no idea how the people from those (forest) areas live. It is very easy to comment and speak… they should come and see how they are living. Comfort of the city will not understand it… We need to think how they will get affected,” Rane said.
Raising questions about the existence of tigers in the wildlife sanctuary, she asked whether any survey is done to check how many tigers are spotted.
“Is there any survey done on how many tigers come there? It (Tiger Reserve) will affect our people. Thousands of people are staying there. They will have to be rehabilitated. Where will you rehabilitate them,” she questioned.
“I am totally against it. We have to rethink the order,” she said.
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