Jagdalpur, May 25 (PTI) Community forest resources rights (CFRR) certificates were handed over to residents of a village located inside a national park in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on Wednesday, officials said.
Chhattisgarh thus became the second state in the country after Odisha to recognize community forest rights inside a national park area, Bastar Collector Rajat Bansal told PTI.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel met the residents of Gudiyapadar during his ‘Bhent Mulakat’ interaction program held at Nangur village and handed over CFRR certificates to them, he said.
Gudiyapadar, a hamlet of 29 households of the Gond tribal community inside the Kanger Valley national park, was not even recognized as a full-fledged village due to its small size and remoteness, Bansal said.
The grant of community forest rights will empower villagers, encourage community based conservation and strengthen livelihood means and food security for them, he added.
After getting CFRR, the villagers put down their bows and arrows before their deity, and vowed to protect biodiversity and never to hunt wild animal, officials said. PTI COR TKP KRK KRK
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