Mungantiwar urges CM to drop Kanhalgaon sanctuary plan that touches 47 Chandrapur villages

Sudhir Mungantiwar, MLA and former forest minister, has asked Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to abandon the proposed Kanhalgaon wildlife sanctuary in Chandrapur district. He says the plan puts the livelihoods, rights and safety of people in 47 villages at risk. Mungantiwar met the chief minister at Varsha, the official residence in Mumbai, and presented his demand there.

Mungantiwar told the chief minister that the proposal could damage the traditional rights of tribal communities, reduce local employment and endanger residents. According to the accounts of the meeting, Fadnavis took the demand positively and instructed the forest department secretary to take the necessary action. One account says the instruction went to the department's secretaries, in the plural, and the two reports do not agree on this detail.

The proposed sanctuary would extend over roughly 25,138.146 hectares. The 47 villages linked to it are spread across three talukas: 39 in Gondpipri, five in Pombhurna and three in Ballarpur. Much of the forest land in the area is now managed by the Forest Development Corporation, which gives work to thousands of local residents.

Villagers worry that once a sanctuary is notified, settlements falling in its core and buffer zones will face many curbs. They expect forest-linked jobs to dwindle and traditional ways of earning a living to suffer. Mungantiwar specially pointed out to the chief minister how the plan could disturb the lifestyle of tribal people and the deep bond they share with the forest.

He also reminded the chief minister of the villages that were moved out when the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve was created. Residents of those relocated villages, he said, still struggle with many problems. Villagers feel they should not be forced to go through displacement, restrictions and uncertainty over jobs a second time because of another protected area. Mungantiwar questioned why Chandrapur needs one more sanctuary when large-scale tiger conservation is already under way through the Tadoba-Andhari reserve.

The MLA further raised the matter of people killed in tiger attacks in the district and the safety of those living close to forests. He argued that guarding wildlife must go hand in hand with a firm guarantee for the lives and security of forest-edge communities. Local people fear that a sanctuary would sharpen the conflict between wild animals and human habitation. Mungantiwar therefore stated plainly that conservation policy has to put the interests, feelings and everyday reality of local residents at its centre.

The Kanhalgaon proposal had been kept on hold during Mungantiwar's own tenure as forest minister. He has now revived his involvement after villagers and the sarpanch association voiced their opposition. Before approaching the chief minister, he had found out the sarpanch association's position and held a video conference with senior forest department officials. In that meeting, concerns of the people of the 47 villages were discussed at length. These included forest-based employment, the traditional rights of tribal communities, rehabilitation, and conflict between humans and wildlife. Having done so, he took the same concerns straight to the head of the state government.

At Varsha, Mungantiwar pressed that nothing be decided on the sanctuary until villagers have been taken into confidence. He also sought a thorough examination of every aspect of the administrative process behind the proposal, and asked that objections and suggestions from local residents be weighed seriously. Fadnavis responded favourably to the memorandum. The issue has now reached the top level of government, and attention turns to what administrative steps follow on the demands of the 47 villages.

An earlier meeting was held with Devidas Satpute, president of the sarpanch association, and villagers, where the community's position was laid out. Those present said they hoped all sarpanches and villagers would remain united on the matter. They asked Mungantiwar to lead the effort and put their case before the government, so that local people are not wronged and their rights remain protected.

Mungantiwar has assured them that forest conservation is necessary, but that the lives, rights and future of people who have lived alongside the forest for generations matter just as much. In his view, the existence of local communities should never become the cost of protecting wildlife.