NGOs, civil groups to resist tribal evictions

HYDERABAD: The controversial direction given by the Union ministry of environment and forests to all states to evict illegal encroachers not eligible for regularisation of forest land before September 30, 2002 has taken political overtones. An emergency meeting of tribal and civil society groups, political parties and NGOs on September 18 is going to be organised to oppose the move.
The directions of the Centre has put the state forest department in a quandary.Because if they are implemented in toto, 1.3 lakh families from approximately 3 lakh hectares of forest will be evicted.
Senior officials say about 80 per cent of the so-called encroachers belong to the tribal community.
Incidentally, any forcible eviction of tribals would put the Rs 650-crore World Bank (WB) funded Community Forest Management (CFM) project in jeopardy as loss of livelihood would amount to violation of the World Bank norms. Principal secretary (forests) H S Brahma, in a letter to the World Bank country director, has stated that “to ensure that there are no livelihood losses resulting from relinquishment of forest land, assistance would be provided to groups who relinquish forest land’’.