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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Discrepancies in state submissions on Posco project by Nitin Sethi

Discrepancies in state submissions on Posco project by Nitin Sethi

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published Published on May 19, 2010   modified Modified on May 19, 2010


Even as the Orissa government attempts to use force to secure the `Posco area', serious discrepancies have emerged in the submissions made by the state government to the Centre in order to secure the forest clearance for the project.

The state government had claimed that the three villages involved had not filed any claims over the forest land under the Forest Rights Act. But TOI has got access to the resolution by one village, Dhinkia, dated February 4, clearly stating that it is against Posco taking over its traditional forest land.

The Union environment ministry had given a controversial and conditional forest clearance to the project subject to the state government satisfying it that all the procedures under the Forest Rights Act had been followed.

Under the Forest Rights Act, the traditional forest dwellers cannot be displaced from their lands until their rights have been settled and the permission of the gram sabha has been secured.

The state government wrote to the Centre in March claiming that no one had claimed rights over the forest land under dispute and sent purported resolutions passed by the three villages in support of its contention, saying that the conditions of the clearance had been fulfilled.

Even while the Union government clarified on Wednesday that it was not satisfied whether the regulations under the FRA had been met, the Orissa government has already undertaken police action in the villages to vacate the land.

In its March letter to the Centre, the state government failed to mention that on January 19, it had asked the three villages in writing to respond to the Centre's conditional clearance and give its opinion on the transfer of land to Posco. As a reaction, the Dhinkia pali sabha passed a resolution that they are eligible under Section 2(O) of the FRA to claim rights and that the community has been using the forest lands for its livelihood for long. The gram sabha also clarified that under Section 3(1)(i) and 5 of the FRA -- relating to protection of community forest resources -- the village was using the forest resources and did not consent to any transfer of this forest land. They pointed out that so long as rights are not recognized any transfer will be in direct violation of the Act.

Under the FRA, once a community or gram sabha claims rights over a forest there is a laid down process by which such claims have to be settled. The state government instead in its letter to the Centre ignored the claims, did not mention the resolution which it had received from the village by post and asked for an immediate unfettered clearance.

It also ignored an earlier resolution passed by the Dhinkia village in March 2008 where the village council had claimed its right and control over the forest patch under the FRA and even set up a committee of 25 people to kick start the claims process.


The Times of India, 20 May, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Discrepancies-in-state-submissions-on-Posco-project/articleshow/5950325.cms


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