Opposing the draft National Forest Policy-2018, Girijana Sangham has demanded that the Centre bring in an ordinance to protect the forest rights of adivasis.
Girijana Sangham staged a dharna at the Gandhi statue near the GVMC administrative building on Monday, in response to the call given by Bhumi Adhikar Andolan comprising 20 tribal organisations ahead of the hearing on the issue in the Supreme Court on July 24.
The Supreme Court has stayed its February 13 order on the eviction of girijans whose claims under Forest Rights Act were rejected after the Union government filed an application.
“The rejection of applications on the grounds such as ‘out of forest,’ ‘vana samrakshana samitis,’ double entry’ and ‘tree growth’ is not justified. The appeal format should be provided by the government to the aggrieved tribal people. In every mandal, special cells should be set up to receive the applications,” Girijana Sangham State general secretary P. Appalanarsa said.
‘Benefits to pvt. players’
CPI(M) State Secretariat member Ch. Narsinga Rao said the new policy was aimed at benefiting private individuals by handing them over forest land. Of the 1,70,437 claims received in Andhra Pradesh, 96,073 were accepted and in community claim category, only 1,585 of the 4043 were accepted, he said.
Mr. Narsinga Rao also faulted the State government for denial of the claims on the grounds of bauxite mining, Polavaram project, vana samrakshana samitis and reserve forests. Girijana Sangham Urban president S. Damodar was present.
