Till now the forest department has mostly relocated all the villages (Jenabil, Uppar Bara Kamunda and Bahagar, Jamunagarh, Kobathoghai) situated in the core zone. Only one village, called Bakua, and about two families (the others have been relocated) of Jamunagarh village, have been resisting the relocation. The contradiction is that all these villages have received community forest resource rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in April 2015. Local activists working in this area allege that the forest department has forcefully relocated these villages from the core zone in violation of the FRA; however, the forest authorities sustain that all the relocation has been voluntary. 

The forest department is also relocating villages from the buffer area; till now a village named Kiyajhar (inhabited by the particularly vulnerable tribes (PVTGs) communities of Kharia) has been already involuntarily relocated in December 2016. The last relocation on 24 January 2020, displaced 110 families from the Khejuri village in the buffer area, inhabited by the PVTs of Mankidia and Kharia. According to local sources, the move is not entirely voluntary as has been hailed by the Forest Officials. Reports suggest that more than 50 families have refused to move from the village and are still residing there. The villagers have suggested that they do not want to relocate from the village as it is their home and the whole process has been carried out by the Government taking into account the vested interests of some “local dalals” (local sources). The news also reports that on 16 November 2016 the district administration held a gram sabha meeting with wildlife officials and NGOs, and on that occasion, the villagers rejected the proposal which provided 10 lakh rupees and 10 decimal land and house under the Biju Kutir Yojna scheme [4,5]. There is also a plan to relocate from the buffer zone the village of Badakhasaira ( inhabited by Kolho and Kharia tribes), located at the proximity of the core areas. Cases of harassment and intimidation by the forest guards have been registered in this village. 

Under the banner of the Similipal Surakshya Manch (SSM), tribals and other traditional forest dwellers argued the relocation move was arbitrary and not in sync with the Forest Right Act, 2006. “Five villages have been forcibly relocated (….) outside the STR in violation of the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Right Act. Gram Sabha consents have not been taken while the families are being threatened to forgo their traditional right over the forest,” said Telenga Hasa of Jamunagad village [2]. Telenga, who still continues to live along with other two families in the core area, despite the move of other 35 families in September 2015, is leading his villages to struggle against official move to evict them. Because of this, he has been threatened several times by the police officers who have been saying things like, ‘If you try to stay we will lodge many police cases against you, we will say that you are Maoists and we’ll arrest you.’ [1]. 

Besides the relocation from the Tiger Reserve, the conflict over forest rights is being also fought by the particularly vulnerable tribes (PVT) living at the edge of the park, the Mankidia [3]. They claim to live in these forests since centuries and are now reclaiming their habit rights under FRA. The Mankidias are a nomadic tribe whose livelihood depends on the collection of siali fiber, which is found in the dense core area of the jungle. In 2017 there has been contestation over the habitat rights of the Mankidias, essential for the collection of their primary source of livelihood. According to the activists and the local people, the forest department opposed the decision of the district collector to recognize these rights on the core of the TR. This happened just after an order given on 28 March 2017 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which banned the process of distributing tribal rights in the tiger reserve across India. This order was highly criticized by the social societies, local communities and activists, as considered illegal; it was later put on halt, however, it created lots of violation of rights and harassment at the local level [6]. Such as in the case of the Mankidia in the Simlipal area. 

On the other front, the relocated families, who have been strictly prohibited to enter the forest areas, continue to protest against the poor living condition and the lack of primary sources of livelihood. Most of the families did not receive any land as promised, they have been building up their own houses, and stayed in winter under plastic tenths, violating the provisions of the FRA and WLPA, under which dwelling and houses should be already provided before relocation. 

The National Park consists of seven ranges with 39 protection camps. The buffer zone has three forest divisions with 12 ranges and 19 protection camps. There is a road network of 597 km within the Core, and 139 km in the buffer zone of Simlipal Tiger Reserve.

There are 1,265 villages inside the Simlipal Biosphere Reserve with a total population of 4.62 lakh, out of which 73.44% belongs to minority groups. Out of 1,265 villages, 61 villages are situated inside the sanctuary area of which 60 villages are in the buffer area and 1 village still exists in the core area. There are 3 Gram Panchayats inside Simlipal, viz. Gudugudia, Barheipani and Astakumar. According to Census 2001 the total ST population in Simlipal area is around 11,520 (91.77%). The buffer has a total population of 12,500 people.