Baripada, March 4: Authorities of the Similipal Tiger Reserve are facing a tough time to relocate the villagers residing from the sanctuary's core area.

Though the villagers had agreed to shift from the settlement after a lot of deliberations, the bid, however, failed as the reserve is facing acute financial crunch. As a result, the mission of shifting the families from the core patch has suffered a massive setback.

Sources said Rs 3.5 crore was needed for the Jamuna villagers' rehabilitation.

Deputy director of the tiger reserve Ajit Satpathy said: "We sought help from the Centre and the National Tiger Conservation Authority towards compensation for the relocation of the families. But, the funds have not arrived yet. As a result of this, we could not rehabilitate them."

"All the affected families had opted for the compensation of Rs 10 lakh in cash. Since we do not have that, we cannot ask them to shift," Satpathy said.

A palli sabha meeting was held at Jamuna six months ago on the proposed relocation. The villagers had attended the meeting and given their consent to the proposal. Earlier, the reserve forest authorities had succeeded in shifting the tribal settlements from the core area and relocated them in identified pockets. However, three villages, namely Jamuna, Kabatghai and Bakua, were left out.

"Although Similipal should be given the national park status, the notification could not be issued due to the presence of villages in the core area," said a senior officer.

According to the Wildlife Protection Act and guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the core area of a tiger reserve should be kept free from human interference, and the habitants should be relocated on their voluntary consent.

"The villagers have agreed to move out from the village. We also expected that they would be shifted by February. But, the financial situation is creating a bottleneck," said honorary wildlife warden Bhanoomitra Acharya.

Apart from the compensation, the community can also get the facilities of various government schemes, once they get the residence certificates at the relocated site.

After Jamuna, the reserve forest's next move was to relocate people from Kabatghai and Bakua villages.