Ramesh rejects claim that no tribal hit by Posco projects

NEW DELHI: South Korean steelmaker Posco will have to wait a while longer before it can embark on its Rs 54,000-crore integrated steel plant and port project in Odisha. The environment ministry has not accepted the assurance given by the state government that there were no other traditional forest dwellers or tribals in the project area.

The environment ministry has asked the state government to complete the process of recognising and verifying the claims made as required by the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Thursday’s decision comes in the wake of the state government ignoring palli sabha or village assembly resolutions by Dhinkia and Gobindapur villages in late February, which reiterates the claims of the local people under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh returned the assurance submitted by the state government on Wednesday, saying that the two resolutions need to be taken into account by the appropiate authority in the manner laid out by the forest rights law.

“Ignoring the two palli sabhas resolutions and allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006, would be tantamount to violating the very essence of this legislation,” Ramesh said.

The resolutions passed by the two palli sabhas, on February 21 and February 23, state that the people of the area are eligible to be considered as other traditional forest dwellers. Therefore, they can claim individual and community rights under the law.
The palli sabhas had also extended the deadline for receiving claims under the Forest Rights Act. Under the July 2009 order of the environment ministry, village assemblies are required to provide a resolution indicating that their rights and claims under the Forest Rights Act have been settled, before the forest land can be diverted for non-forest use. Ramesh said it appears that the state government provided an assurance “along the lines sought for in my speaking order”.

The speaking order issued on January 31 stated that “final approval for the diversion of 1,253 hectares of forest land for the project will be granted as soon as this assurance of the state government is received by the environment ministry.” The resolutions by the palli sabhas introduce a new dimension. In his statement, Ramesh said that representation recieved on April 11 stated that the resolutions by the village assemblies of Dhinkia and Gobindapur have not been considered by the state government. In mid-March, Ramesh forwarded copies of the gram sabha resolutions to the Odisha government.

He also forwarded the April 11 representation by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the state’s chief secretary. Acknowledging that the state government had earlier “categorically denied the authenticity of documentation” submitted by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the minister said that resolutions need to be dealt with in keeping with law. The Forest Rights Act makes it clear that no forest dwelling scheduled tribe or other traditional forest dweller can be removed from forest land they occupy till the “recognition and verification procedure is complete”.

Ramesh said a final decision on the diversion of forest land for the project will be taken only after the state government informs that the process is complete. The state government will have to submit that the appropiate authority has completed the process of recognition and verification for all villages from which forest land is being diverted for non-forest use.