Bhopal:April 9, 2008:The beautiful spectacle of peacock dance goes unsung in dense forest where there is no one to watch it. But this notion is going to be belied soon. Now the peacock would dance in the jungles and the entire world would bear witness to it. This ‘virtual’ peacock is none else than village Kattipar situated in dense Balaghat jungles. This almost inaccessible small hamlet has barely 25 houses of tribal folks, but the same village is going to become a village of
Lakhpatis as nine residents of it are to get half a crore of rupees. The village which was once miles away from development, is now going to carve out it own identity. The credit of making tribal farmers of this hamlet goes to Forest Department’s Lok Vaniki Yojana.
All the families of this village, situated near the border with Maharashtra, have been dependent on forest produce and labour. After implementation of this in this village, Jeevanlal is going to received Rs 12 lakh 46 thousand, Dasrulal Rs nine lakh 68 thousand, Punnu Singh Rs five lakh 53 thousand, Bhaiyalal Rs five lakh 19 thousand, Suganlal Rs four lakh 12 thousand 500, Khemlal Rs four thousand 26 thousand, Nathulal Rs three lakh 36 thousand, Rendulal Rs one lakh 91 lakh 500 and Suma Bai would get Rs one lakh 40 thousand.
The Forest Department has made arrangement for cutting the timber-producing trees owned by these villagers through Forest Committees and auction of the same at government rates at department’s wood depots. This initiative by the Forest Department has eliminated middlemen from this trade ensuring more profit to the villagers.