In the latest hurdle to Posco's embattled Rs.54,000-crore steel project in Orissa, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has told the State government to stop all work related to it, including land acquisition and handover, as it is violating the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
The August 5 order comes in the wake of a report by a committee set up jointly by the Environment and Tribal Affairs Ministries to assess the impact of the Act on sustainable forest resources management. A sub-group of the committee visited Orissa and found that “certain violations related to the Posco project were taking place as well.”
The Environment Ministry's clearance for diversion of forest land for the project had stipulated that FRA implementation be completed first before any acquisition and handover.
The committee found that the FRA process, to give land rights to the original forest dwellers, had still not even gone beyond the initial stages.
In such a situation, it was “incorrect and misleading” on the part of the district administration to claim that there had been no Other Traditional Forest Dwellers in cultivating possession of the forest land for three generations.
In fact, the panel found oral and documentary evidence that there were Other Traditional Forest Dwellers in the area.
“Documents withheld”
The district and State administration also seems to be hiding the fact that the palli sabhas, or village committees, have passed resolutions refusing consent to the diversion of forest land which they are dependent on. The Ministry order accused the State government of withholding these documents from the Centre.
The State government has also failed to respond to the July 29 demand for urgent information on the land handover to Posco. Instead, the district administration seems to be proceeding with land acquisition from consenting families and demolition of paan cultivation, the order said.
“The team's conclusion is that any work related to the project in the area…is a violation of the FRA and of the conditionality laid down by the MoEF in its forest clearance,” the order said.
