Ranchi, July 17: Tribal leaders and NGOs, working among the forest dwellers, have warned the World Bank that the bank-funded Jharkhand Social Forestry Project is headed for a disaster unless the present blueprint of starting pilot projects in 50 separate villages is scrapped off.

Instead, the Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan (JJBA) spokesman, Sanjay Bosumallik, and former Ranchi University vice-chancellor Ramdayal Munda suggested that the number of proposed projects should be restricted to not more than two, each encompassing a cluster of at least 25 villages.

The two leaders further added that unless large clusters of tribes are involved in each group, the forestry project, too, is likely to end in a chaos.

?Only large number of people can reap the benefits of skill formation and economies of scale,? the two leaders told a team from the bank team that visited Ranchi recently.

In April this year, the World Bank had given the green signal to the Rs 1,147.77 crore Jharkhand Social Forestry Project, now redesignated as the Jharkhand Participatory Forest Management Project, aimed at alleviating rural poverty. The bank had also decreed that the pilot projects would be begun in 50 villages and its extension would depend upon the success of the present experiment.

Accordingly, the state forest department had suggested the names of 50 villages spread over the northern and southern parts of the state, sources told The Telegraph.

But the tribal leaders and the prominent NGOs had lodged strong protests with the World Bank as soon as the forest department had forwarded the names alleging gross apathy of the state in protecting its existing forest cover and its negligence in selecting the pilot project sites.

Explaining their stand, the JJBA spokesman told The Telegraph that since the principal aim of the project was the alleviation of rural poverty, minor forest products like tamarind, lac, chironji (a type of dry fruit) needed to be collected on a large scale so that they could be sold directly at larger markets in the cities at higher prices. For that, involvement of a large number of people was imperative, he added.

Following the protests, chief minister Arjun Munda has requested the former Ranchi University vice-chancellor to prepare a comprehensive project report to resolve the differences and ensure success of the project.

Besides, the protests have also led the World Bank to demand from the forest department the parameters used for selection of the pilot project sites.