Tribals, forest dept on war path

LUCKNOW: Tharu tribals living in 46 villages situated inside and within five kilometre of the Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur Kheri district are on a collision course with the forest department (FD). The reason being collection of forest produce by the tribals and forest dwellers from the reserved forest areas.
In a notice served to the park administration, the village forest right committees of all the 46 villages have warned legal action under the Forests Rights Act (FRA) 2006, if forest dwellers are denied entry in the forest for collecting dry wood and leaves for domestic purpose and for earning their livelihood.The FRA gives community and individual rights to forest dwellers on the forest land and its produce. The village level forest right committees are formed under the Act to recommend grant of land ownership titles to the individuals and communities dependent on the forest since centuries. Since implementation of the Act is under process, the district administration issued orders to allow tribals collect forest produce. But, FD overlooked it.
This made tribals take help of village committees, which served notice to the FD announcing that tribals will enter the forest en masse on January 20. "If FD will try to stop them, we will seek legal action under FRA. Barring tribals from collecting forest produce amounts to violation of the section 7 of the FRA, which provides for action against officers creating obstacles in implementation of the Act," said Ram Chandra Rana, Tharu leader and member of State FRA Monitoring Committee.
Tribals have also written to Jairam Ramesh, union environment and forest minister, complaining that the FD personnel extort money for `allowing' to collect forest produce and those who don't pay are falsely implicated under The Forest Act 1927 and The Wildlife Protection Act.
Deputy director Dudhwa National Park Sanjay Pathak, when contacted, denied all allegations. Quoting a Supreme Court order delivered in 2000 and the Wildlife Protection Act, he said that "National parks and the sanctuaries are `sanctum sanctorum', which FD has to protect at all cost. We cannot allow any activity which can cause damage to the forest habitat". He said that the tribals should wait patiently for the settlement of claims under FRA. He also said "If required, the FD will seek help of the police and district administration to check any attempt of forcible entry".
"Of the 46 villages, 44 are revenue villages and only two -- Surma and Golboji -- fall in the forest reserve area, hence others cannot stake claim on forest land and its produce," he claimed.
Rajnish, member, National Forum for Forest People and Forest Workers, said that the FRA covers both revenue and forest villages. The FRA is a special law, which overrides all other forest laws, hence no other Act or order can deny rights granted to the tribals. "The 46 odd villages were part of the Khairigarh estate and were handed over to the British in 1861. While taking over the land from India rulers, the British had agreed to allow tribals use forest produce," he said. Also, he added, that the working plans of the forest department prepared every five years have provisions for allowing access to forest dwellers in the forest areas. "The FD will be responsible for any unpleasant incident, if it uses force to stop tribals on January 20," Rajnish warned.