The three-member National Forest Rights Act Committee of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) led by its member Ashish Kothari is slated to visit the Posco site and interact with affected people on Saturday to do a reality check on the violation of Forest Rights Act.
The team would visit Dhinkia, Gobindpur,Nuagaon Gadkujang, Nolishai, Polang, Bayanalkanda, Bhiuyanpal, the villages in Jagatsinghpur district affected by the Posco project.
The team members today interacted with the officials of the Jagatsinghpur district administration to ascertain the Orissa government's claims of non-violation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006.
The district officials clarified that four tribal families of Polang village under Gadkujang panchayat are staying out of the boundaries of the Posco project site and hence there is no violation of the Act. Besides, no single tribal family is staying within the Posco project site, the officials reiterated.
Moreover, there is no single traditional forest dweller at the Posco site because no land document has been issued yet to anyone with a claim to be living in the forest land for the past three decades. The clarification was given by Jagatsinghpur district collector Narayan Jena; additional district magistrate of Paradip, Sarojkant Chaudhury; divisional forest officer of Rajnagar, Prasanna Behera,; district rehabilitation officer Surjeet Das and special land acquisition officer Nrusingh Swain.
It may be noted that MoEF which gave the clearance for diversion of 1235.2 hectares (3052.13 acres) of forest land is now caught in a catch-22 situation with claims of violation of rights of forest dwellers cropping up. Out of 4004 acres needed for Posco India's steel plant, 2958 acres constitute forest land. The area of 1235.2 hectares of forest land cleared by the ministry is being cultivated by the people for decades.
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During the issue of forest clearance by MoEF, the state government was asked to fulfill certain conditions to ensure compliance with the Act. One of the main conditions was to take the consent of the traditional slum dwellers as per the provision of the Act. Other conditions include financial aid and access to the fishing community residing at Noliashai while ensuring resettlement and rehabilitation of families affected by the project as per the order of the Supreme Court.
The legal status of the forest land shall remain unchanged wherever possible and Posco India will undertake compensatory afforestation.
The forest land will not be used for purposes other that that specified in the project proposal and no damage would be caused to the flora and fauna of the region. A letter to was also sent the Orissa government in this regard for implementation of these conditions.
By the directive of state government, the Jagatsinghpur district administration conducted pallisabha and gramsabha in three panchyats Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang as it is mandatory to take the consent of gramsabha for diversion of fores land. The report stated that there are no tribal and traditional slum dwellers in these areas because no issues had been raised during the Palisabha being conducted in each village.