Farmers take out rally in Kinnaur to protest eviction

The farmers of Kinnaur district on Saturday staged a rally at Rekong Peo, demanding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

The farmers, who came together under the non-political District Forest Rights Sangrash Samiti, said the tribal farmers and traditional forest dwellers could not be evicted from forestlands under Section 4(5) of the Forest Rights Act.

This Act had been implemented in Kinnaur since 2008. The Samiti blamed the Himachal Pradesh government for not presenting the facts effectively before the High Court.

It maintained that 1,370 individual and 54 community claims were pending at the district level and 1,107 cases were pending before the village forest rights associations. But the government was bent upon removing the encroachments before settling these claims. The Samiti would move the Supreme Court, its leaders said.