District admin refutes claims of Saxena panel on Posco project

The Jagatsinghpur district administration has refuted the claims of National Forest Rights Act (NFRA) committee on presence of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) at the Posco project site and also on seeking the consent of gram sabha for diversion of forest land for the project.

Contrary to the observations of the committee, the district collector said, there is no proof of any villager cultivating the forest land for the last three generations or for last 75 years making them eligible to be counted as OTFDs.

Similarly, he said, the administration, as required under law, had conducted gram sabhas in which the villagers had given their consent for diversion of forest land.

The collector said this in response to the letter from the state forest department asking him to file factual report about the violation of Forest Rights Act at the Posco site, position of handing over of the forest and non-forest land to the company and other affairs related to forest land issue.

He further pointed out that no villager has submitted application within last three decades to claim his right on the forest land in the area.

The district administration’s response was an encore of its similar replies to the queries of Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) earlier this year.

However, the National Forest Rights Act committee set up jointly by MoEF and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which visited the Posco site two weeks back as part of its mandate to look into allegations of FRA violation, had contested the views of the district administration.

Referring to oral evidence and some documents collected from the villagers and elsewhere during their tour, the committee, in its report, concluded that OTFDs existed in the Posco site area and certain gram sabhas had not given their consent for diversion of forest land, thus making the state government’s attempt to acquire land for the project a fit case of FRA violation.

Following the committee’s observation, MoEF had written to the state government to stop all work on the project, including land acquisition and reply it through return fax on “factual position on FRA violation, position of handing over of the forest and non-forest land and other affairs related to the forest land issue.

The state government had forwarded MoEF's letter to the district administration for response. The government wanted to verify the allegations of irregularities in land acquisition and violation of FRA in detail, before starting negotiations with MoEF to clear the air and expedite land acquisition for the Posco project.

In its report, the district administration maintained that the Dhinkia panchayat, which will be affected by Posco project, had not come under forest area for the past three decades. In 1955, all forests of the undivided Cuttack district were handed over to the Divisional Forest Officer, Athgarh but Dhinkia was not included under forest area and hence no family can be categorized as traditional forest dweller.

When contacted, the Kujang tahsildar, Basudev Pradhan informed that before putting a halt to the land acquisition process, the administration had surveyed 161 betel vines in Gadkujang panchayat and demolished 96 betel vines after paying compensation of Rs 1.36 corer.