Team Herald
SANGUEM: The Netravali villagers and panchayat members have called for an urgent meeting on Sunday to oppose the declaration of Netravali as the precinct of Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary and also the recent notification declaring Netravali village as eco-sensitive zone.
The villagers are sore over the declaration of Netravali as the precinct of Wildlife Sanctuary and since its declaration as such, they have been continuously requesting the authorities to remove the villages from the wildlife sanctuary so that he villagers could undertake development of their properties.
The declaration of Netravali as forming part of Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary have severely affected the development activities of the villagers, as the villagers despite being the owners of land are under compulsion to obtain permissions from the Forest Department for any development work.
Over the last 12 years, the villagers and the Forest Department have been at logger heads. In this tussle, the Forest Department enjoys an upper hand by restricting the villagers from carrying out any development activities within the precincts of wildlife sanctuary.
Some days ago, the panchayat had even given a representation to Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar to get the village boundary removed from Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary.
The meeting on Sunday is convened to apprise the villagers of the consequences they would have to face in the event the government fails to remove the village from wildlife sanctuary and eco-sensitive zone.
