A meeting of the members of the committee for the Implementation of the Compensation and Resettlement Package, Mangla Dam Raising Project (MDRP) was held in the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan on Thursday under the chairmanship of Federal Minster for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo.

Over 104 families from village Jamni, located inside the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the district, received the first instalment of Rs 1 lakh, out of the total of Rs 10 lakh declared as part of their rehabilitation from the Government, a release from the District Information Office said.

In order to clear the land for the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), 222 families in the village inside the TATR, have been given two options by the Government’s NTCA Rehabilitation Package.

AT THE crack of dawn, the view from atop the 22-metre tall garbage heap in Bhalswa is oddly beautiful. As the pungent smell of methane wafts through the air, the sight of hundreds of ragpickers mechanically sorting through 2,200 tonnes of garbage may seem mesmerising. Pools of black water surrounding the hutments reflect the grey sky and the birds that circle above. The reality is equally grim. The resettlement colony is a living hell and this hell has no water to drink.

An entire village has been relocated in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan to protect tigers, officials say.

More than 350 people from 82 families in Umri village, in the Sariska tiger reserve, moved to a new location.

The number of tigers in Sariska had dwindled to zero before growing to five over the last three years.

Umri is the second village in Sariska to be relocated to help secure a proper habitat for tigers to increase their numbers. The villagers moved last week.