Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) attended the workshop on the Settlement of Rights in the Protected Areas of Ladakh under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, at the DC Conference Hall on August 1.

  Highlighting the need for the early rationalization of boundaries of the Karakoram and Changthang Wildlife Sanctuaries along with the exercise of settlement of rights of the inhabitants of both these Wildlife Sanctuaries and the Hemis National Park, the LG termed the exercise as ‘the requirement of a progressive, civilized and welfare-oriented world for posterity.’ Giving detailed information about the genesis of the Wildlife Protection Act and its need, he emphasized the need to strike a balance between the rights of the inhabitants and the protection of the wildlife in the protected areas and stated that the Wildlife Protection Act is a means to maintain the balance between the two.

Highlighting the need to ensure that the inhabitants residing in these protected areas are not affected ‘as they also need to survive and indulge in livelihood means,’ the LG emphasized the need to be rational while conducting the exercise, sensitize people residing in these areas about their rights and achieve the overall goal of the exercise with prudence. Terming the exercise of settlement of rights as important, he highlighted the need to achieve the targeted result at the earliest for the overall benefit of the people of Ladakh.

Advisor to LG, Dr Pawan Kotwal, informed that the exercise of settlement of rights of inhabitants residing in Changthang/Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries and Hemis National Park started in 1987 but the exercise could not be completed due to which the people in these protected areas are not entitled to their settlement of rights. He also informed that the said exercise will now be completed with the help of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India which is providing handholding to UT Administration in building the capacities of the collectors and patwaris to conduct the exercise in these wildlife-protected areas.

Sanjeev Gaur, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) official from Maharashtra, gave a detailed presentation on the scope of work and legal framework of settlement of rights, including the premises and objectives of the Wildlife (Protection Act 1972), the concept of servitudes, dominant and servient estates, nature of rights, cardinal principles for the exercise of rights and legal framework and constraints, etc.