Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Orissa pitches for Posco, questions panel’s findings

Orissa pitches for Posco, questions panel’s findings

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Aug 19, 2010   modified Modified on Aug 19, 2010


Raising doubts on the impartiality of the Saxena-Pandey committee appointed by the Centre, the Orissa government has questioned the authenticity of their findings about violations in the Posco project area. Countering the charge of violation of the Forest Rights Act, the state government has asked the environment ministry to reconsider its “stop work” order.

In a letter to the Union environment ministry, the state government has alleged that “the way the committee went about gives an impression as if the sole intention of the visit was to stall the process of land acquisition for the project.” It is of the view that conclusions arrived at by the visiting team were based on “evidence manufactured by anti-project agitators with ulterior motive.”

Responding to the August 5 “stop work” order, the Orissa government has refuted the claim that settlements under the Forest Rights Act are yet to be completed. The state government has also questioned the authenticity of the palli sabha (public meetings) resolutions refusing to allow for diversion of forest land. The environment ministry issued a stop work order after the NC Saxena-Devendra Pandey committee reported that the process of settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act at the Posco project site had not “proceeded beyond the initial stages”.

Committee members who visited the Posco project site in Jagatsinghpur in Orissa reported that there were other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) in the area. They cited documentary and oral evidence, including records of the old Bardhaman estate, rent receipts of the families from early 20th century, and forest settlement records backing their finding.

The state government has questioned the validity of this finding. In its letter to the environment ministry, the state government has claimed that claiming that “the records that are being produced now for the lands that have not been settled in their favour lack credibility for had they had such records, they would have got their rights settled then. These records must have been subsequent creations. Some such documents produced before the Revenue Divisional Commissioner on June 1, 2010, were found to have been forged.”

The Orissa government has consistently maintained that there were no tribal people and other traditional forest dwellers who have cultivated the land for three generations or 75 years in the forest area which forms part of the land designated for the proposed POSCO project. It has reiterated this claim in its letter to the environment ministry. The FRA requires that OTFDs must establish with “convincing materials” possession of and dependence on the forest land for three generations. The state government has said that there has been “no credible claim” in the area.

The state government has argued that it is “not correct” to conclude that there are traditional forest dwellers in the project area. It has alleged that documentary evidences presented to the committee “appear to have been manufactured by anti project agitators with ulterior motive.”

Refuting the claim that in February, palli sabhas of two villages — Dhinkia and Gobindpur — passed a resolution opposing the diversion of forest land, the state administration has informed that “no such resolution has been handed over to any authority”. Further, it has claimed that these documents were “manufactured” at later date with an “ulterior motive to create confusion”.


The Economic Times, 19 August, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Orissa-pitches-for-Posco-questions-panels-findings/articleshow/6334020.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close