After being rapped by the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) for ignoring palli sabha resolutions at the Posco affected villages, the Orissa government has demonstrated its readiness to take note of the concerns of the affected villagers raised at these village level meetings.
"The letter of Jairam Ramesh, the Union minister for environment & forests, has been referred to the state forest & environment department. The department will examine it and take appropriate action”, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here.
The state government's decision to consider the palli sabha resolutions held in February at the Posco affected villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur contradicts its earlier stand.
In its report submitted recently to the MoEF on compliance with Forest Rights Act (FRA)-2006 at the Posco site, the state government had categorically stated that the palli sabhas were not valid as they were not convened by the gram sabha secretary and the proceedings were not recorded.
It may be noted that in a note posted on the site of MoEF, Ramesh urged the state government to dispose off these two resolutions by an appropriate authority in accordance with the FRA-2006.
He had warned that ignoring these two palli sabha resolutions and not allowing them to be subject to a due process of law as enshrined in the FRA-2006 would tantamount to violating the very essence of this legislation passed unanimously and with acclaim by the Parliament.
Meanwhile Damodar Rout, BJD stalwart and the state agriculture minister has flayed Ramesh for the latter's insistence on ensuring compliance with FRA at the Posco site where there are no tribals or Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD).
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"It is pointless for the Union environment minister to talk of implementation of FRA at the Posco project site where there are neither tribals nor OTFDs. Tribals have never stayed at the project site. Moreover, around 4700 families have been permitted to raise betel vines on the area during 1980-85”, Rout said.
It may be noted that Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organization, spearheading the anti-Posco movement in the state, had raised its concerns relating to the presence of OTFD at the Posco project site and reluctance of the locals to allow diversion of forest land for the project through an e-mail to Union minister for environment & forests.
Subsequently, Ramesh had shot off a letter to Orissa Chief Minister on last Monday, stating that the state government should look into the allegations of PPSS.
He had further stated that it is the state government's responsibility to ensure implementation of FRA at the Posco site. In its e-mail to Ramesh, PPSS had claimed that there are OTFDs at the Posco site and there is sufficient evidence to prove this fact. It has also stated that during the palli sabha conducted on February 21 and 23 at the Posco site, the locals had opposed the Forest Diversion Plan for the Posco steel project.