Rejecting state report,Jairam presses pause on POSCO again

This group,the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti,had submitted resolutions ostensibly passed by the gram sabhas of these two villages to this effect just two days before the state government gave a written assurance on Wednesday claiming there were no forest-dwellers living in the project area.

Such an assurance had been demanded by the Environment Ministry as a pre-condition for granting forest clearance to the POSCO project in an order it had issued on January 31 this year.

“While it is true that the state government had earlier categorically denied the authenticity of documentation submitted by the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti,I do believe that these two resolutions (of the gram sabhas) have to be disposed of by the appropriate authority in accordance

with the Forest Rights Act,2006,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in today’s directive.

The landmark Forest Rights Act recognises that forests belong to people living in,and depending for its livelihood on,forests. Any diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes,such as setting up an industry as in the case of POSCO,can happen only with the consent of these forest-dwellers.

POSCO plans to set up a 12 million tonne per year capacity iron and steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district but the project is entangled in environmental trouble and a stop-work order has been in force at the project site since August last year,mainly because of non-implementation of the FRA.

In January this year,the Environment Ministry had said that it would give the forest clearance to the project provided the state government gave a categorical assurance that there were no forest-dwellers present in the project area and therefore the provisions of FRA did not apply. The state government took two and a half months to give such an assurance but the Environment Ministry has now ruled that it’s not enough.

“After receiving information from the state government that the appropriate authority has completed the process of

recognition and verification procedure for all the villages from where the forest land is to be transferred for

non-forestry purposes,a final decision regarding forest clearance will be taken,” Ramesh said.

“Ignoring these two palli sabha (gram sabha) resolutions and not allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act,2006 would be tantamount,in my considered opinion,to violating the very essence of this legislation,passed unanimously and with acclaim by the Parliament,” Ramesh said in today’s directive.

Who is eligible for ‘forest rights’

ANY TRIBAL in a forest area

NON-TRIBALS must meet 3 conditions to be classified as Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs): must be living in forest for 75 yrs prior to 2005; be dependent on forest produce for livelihood; be in occupation of forest land before Dec 2005

TWO EXPERT committees have certified a large number of OTFDs in the area. State says no OTFDs

JAIRAM WANTS state to settle OTFD rights,then seek their consent to give land to POSCO