Saxena committee to submit report within a month

State prepared to grant forest rights to Lanjigarh tribals

The four-member committee constituted by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) under the chairmanship of N C Saxena, member of National Advisory Council to look into the issue of diversion of 660.74 hectares (1632.66 acres) of forest land at Lanjigarh for bauxite mining project of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) would submit its report within a month.

“We will submit our report to the MoEF within a month”, said Saxena after a meeting with the state Chief Secretary T K Mishra. He refused to elaborate on the matter.

Emerging out of the meeting, Mishra said, “There are issues pertaining to the implementation of Forest Rights Act in the region where bauxite mining is to be taken up. A survey was done in 2003 on the potential impact of mining activities on the livelihood of the Dongri Kondh tribals but at that time, the Forest Rights Act had not come into existence. Now, we have to consider the grant of forest rights of the tribals which can be granted to individuals or to the community as whole.”

 

“The Orissa government ranks second among all the states in the country as far as implementation of 'The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The Saxena committee has expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved by us in this connection”, he claimed.

The process of grant of tribal rights to the tribals in the Lanjigarh area has already been kicked off and the state government and applications would be sought from the other tribals to facilitate conferring of forest rights.

“A micro planning strategy would be devised wherein we will have consultations with the concerned gram sabhas. The officials of the revenue and other concerned departments will visit the area soon to validate the claims of forest rights of individuals as well as communities. This process is expected to be completed within two months”, Mishra stated.

He, however, stated that the implementation of the Forest Rights Act was a tricky issue for those projects which have already progressed and the Centre needs to issue guidelines in this regard.

Meanwhile, a four-member committee will work under the directions of Saxena in relation to administrative arrangements and scheduling of field visits. Saxena, the committee chairman is scheduled to call on the Chief Secretary, Orissa government on Friday to hold discussions on the issue for diversion of forest land for mining of bauxite by OMC.It will review all previous reports in relation to the proposal submitted by OMC for the bauxite mining project. Besides, it will undertake field inspections and analysis jointly or severally as decided through consensus by the group.

The secretarial assistance to the committee shall be provided by the Inspector General of Forests in charge of the forest conservation division of MoEF. Earlier, a three-member committee was constituted by the order of MoEF on January 1, 2010 to consider and make recommendations to the ministry on the proposal submitted by OMC. This aforesaid submitted its report to the MoEF based inter-alia on the site inspections conducted by it in the months of January and February this year.

After scrutinizing the report of the said committee, the need was felt by MoEF for further examination of the issues of primary importance like settlement of the rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, particularly the specific impact on the livelihood, culture and material welfare of the Dongaria Kondhs, a notified primitive tribal group.