Not for the first time, the entire proceedings of gram sabhas appear to be forged to divert forestland for mining in Odisha, according to information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Dilip Kumar Sahu of Patrapalli village said that in 2012, the gram sabhas of seven villages in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts had opposed two coal plants proposed in the area by private companies. However, surprisingly, the district administration forwarded to the Union Government the gram sabha resolutions that unanimously approved of diversion of forestland for the projects.
Mr. Sahu sought copies of these resolutions under the RTI Act in September. When he got them in November, he found out that they differed from the original registers that recorded the minutes of the meetings. He plans to take legal opinion and file a case of forgery.
Villagers of Patrapalli had applied for community forest rights (CFR) to 750 hectares during 2011; but their claim has not been processed so far. CFR are not to be given in areas being considered for mining, Mr. Sahu and other activists said at a recent convention on CFR. For Mr. Sahu, it will be the second time his family will be displaced. His father was a boy in 1955 when the Hirakud dam displaced them. Nearly 60 years later, the people of Patrapalli, who had relocated to their present site two km away, face the same fate.
People depend on the forests around for sustenance. Even after the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed, they have not been given the rights. Instead, a mining company was given preference. The minutes of the gram sabha meetings held in four villages on June 6, 2012, are different from the records submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests by the district administration.
Mr. Sahu shows the original register that had the signatures of the sarpanch and over 120 people opposed to the diversion of forestland. But the documents obtained under the RTI Act showed unanimous approval of diversion and a declaration that no Scheduled Tribe or traditional forest dwellers stayed in the required forestland of 2,016.12 hectares, and they had no possession of the forestland to be acquired for the proposed Talavira mine.
“In our application for the CFR, we said we were displaced once, and we are forest-dependent, and we need rights over that forest,” Mr. Sahu said.
Patrapalli sarpanch Hansa Mathu had signed the records of both meetings. However, he took back the signature from the records sent by the Collector. The official records submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests had 244 signatures.
The same discrepancy was evident in the villages of Dumurmunda, Talavira and Malda, which had opposed the forestland diversion. “We have sent the original registers to the Ministry and appealed to it not to approve of diversion. The Supreme Court had stayed the mining leases but they will be issued again, and we want to make sure our opposition is recorded,” he said.
The Sambalpur Collector certified that the complete process for diversion and settlement of rights under the FRA had been carried out for coal mining at Talavira, and the proposal was placed before the gram sabha. The certification was issued for Patrapalli, too.
The companies in question are MNH Sakhti Limited (A MCL subsidiary company), Hindalco Industries Limited (HIL) and Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). This project will affect the villages of Malda, Patrapalli, Talabira, Rampur , Khinda , Khaita and Dumurmunda.
