In a landmark decision set to transform the lives of over 1.5 lakh residents, the Rajasthan forest department has officially redrawn the boundaries of the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary (NCGS). The move, approved by the National Board for Wildlife (NBW), involves denotifying specific revenue areas, paving the way for thousands to finally acquire legal ownership of their land.
Decades of Restrictions Lifted for Riverside Communities
The decision directly impacts populations settled along the Chambal river between the Kota Barrage and the Hanging Bridge. For generations, these communities have lived under the shadow of sanctuary-related restrictions that barred them from securing formal land rights. The alteration frees approximately 730 hectares from the sanctuary's limits, benefiting nearly 40,000 households.
An official highlighted the practical hardships faced, stating that no one residing within one kilometre of the river, from Kishorpura to Shyam Nagar, held a legal land document or 'patta'. This lack of documentation rendered them ineligible for crucial housing loans and hindered access to basic utilities and construction permissions.
The Legal Process and Revised Boundaries
The state government exercised its powers under Section 26A of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to enact this change. The sanctuary, originally notified on September 3, 1983, encompassed vast stretches of the Chambal river and land up to one kilometre on both banks across various segments.
"Following the NBW's recommendation, areas specified in Schedule II of the notification have been denotified from the sanctuary," explained a senior forest department official. The revised boundaries, now outlined in Schedule III, come into effect immediately. Officials assert that this rationalisation aligns the protected area with current ecological realities and human settlement patterns that have evolved over time.
Political Intervention and Long-Pending Resolution
The process gained momentum after persistent demands from residents reached Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota MP, Om Birla. His intervention, following multiple representations from locals and politicians, helped expedite the resolution of this long-standing issue.
A forest department source clarified the context, noting that several residential colonies were formally developed in the affected areas by the Kota Urban Improvement Trust and Kota Municipal Corporation, leading to dense population clusters. The denotification proposal was crafted specifically to address the plight of these established communities while balancing conservation goals.
The redrawn map of the NCGS will now govern the sanctuary's limits, offering a new dawn of property security and developmental access for over one lakh people in the Kota region, finally integrating their long-standing settlements into the formal administrative framework.
