NIRMAN organises Workshop on FRA Implementation
Nayagarh, Aug 17: A state level workshop on the implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006 was organised by NIRMAN, a Non-Government Organisation working on FRA in different districts i.e. Rayagada, Kandhamal and Nayagarh in collaboration with Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) on Friday at K.C. Club Conference Hall at Nayagarh.
The workshop was jointly inaugurated by former RTI Commissioner and Environmentalist, Radhamohan and Nayagarh DWO Miss. Jayashree. Around 70 community people, FRC members and member of the Nayagarh Jungle SurakhyaMahasangh joined as the participants from different Block i.e Ranpur, Gania, Daspalalla, Nuagaon, etc in the workshop.
PrasantMohanty, Director of the NIRMAN, welcomed all the guest and participants of the workshop and shared the objective of the workshop. He said that Forest Rights Act has been a historic enactment in India which enacted to redress all the problems being faced by the tribals and forest dwellers of the country before and after the India’s independence. He shared many FRA implementation issues and problems being faced by the community in the ground from last 7 years. He said that in most of the cases, the forest land issued under Individual Forest Rights(IFR) in the district are not been verified in the grounds, the IFR claims of the OTFD are not considered by the SDLC, the CFR titles issued to thetwo Villages(Dimbaribadi and Brahamankumei) of Ranpur Block in the district are issued over the VSS area and not over their actual CFR area, the Forest Department is not cooperating the Gram Sabhaduring CFR determination and many CFR claims filed at the SDLC are pending for long times and there is no action from the SDLC side for its disposal.
Prof. Radhamaohan joining as the Chief Guest on the occasion emphasised on the recognition of community rights over CFR area recognised under FRA, 2006. Reminding the Tribal struggles in the freedom movement, he discussed on the symbiotic relationship between tribals and the forest. He called upon the participants of the workshop to file their CFR claim to get legal recognition over forest under FRA.
Ms.Jayashrre, the DWO of Naygarh district accepting all the issues raised promised to extend all necessary support in the FRA implementation in the district.
Advocate JitendraSahoo sharing his experiences on working on FRA in Kandhmal gave a brief presentation on the process of filing community forest rights claims, to determine community forest resource(CFR)area by the Gram Sabha etc.
Dr.SricharanBehera, Researcher( Land and Forest Governance) joining the workshop emphasised on the importance of the community forest rights and community rights over CFR recognised under FRA and spoke on how the community people can plan for the protection and management of their CFR area. He also called upon the people to organise themselves at the Gram Sabha level and to counter the VSS.
Addressing the participants of the workshop, Mr.SudhansuDeo, FRA Activist, talk on the role of the Gram Sabha towards implementation of FRA in the villages. He said “Nayagarh district is known worldwide for its community Forest Management (CFM) from last 70 years. But is it regretted that in last 7 years of FRA implementation, the community people(gram sabha) protecting forest have shown less interest in claiming CFR rights and Rights over their CFR area recognised under FRA, 2006.” He called upon the people of the Nayagarh to file more and more CFR claims and to get legal ownership rights over forest under FRA.
Dr.ManoharChauhan, Member of Campaign for Survival and Dignity(CSD), Odishajoining the workshop discussed on the status of forest land available in the district. He said that the total forest land constitutes around 56.32 per centof the total geographical area of the district. Since the revenue forest land constitutes only 40.56 per cent including 5.01 per cent of DLC land and rest 59.44 per cent forest land is reserve forest in the Nayagarh district, the scope for recognition of Community Forest Resource(CFR) area under FRA is comparatively much more. However, he called upon all the participants and the leaders of the Nayagarh Jungle SurakhyaMahasangh(JSMS) present in workshop to dissolve all VSS formed by the Forest Department using JFM, Resolution 1990, 2008, 2015which has lost its relevance after FRA by taking resolution at the Gram Sabha level to get rights over CFR. He was of the view that so far the VSS are not dissolved by the Gram Sabhas, the Community Rights over CFR area would be just a myth.” “We cannot have two forest protection and management committees (one under FRA and another under JFM(VSS) in the same village, for the same purpose”, he said.
FAR implementation in Nayagarh District an overview
It is to be noted that as per FRA Status report produced by the State Level Monitoring(SLMC) Govt. of Odisha by 31st May 2015, only 3334 Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claims have been filed at the Gram Sabha level and 3061 IFR titles have been issued to the tribals of the district over 4740.60 acres of forest land. It is further reported that while 3001 number of IFR titles have been issued over revenue forest land, only 60 IFR titles have been issued over reserve forest land in the district. It is also reported that, so far only 91 community forest rights (CFR) Claims have been filed at the Gram Sabha level, by the time only 2 CFR titles have been issued to the two tribal Village( Dimbaribadi and Brahmankumei in Ranpur Block) in the district over 250 acres of forest land to each village.
Even the SLMC in last March,2015 had reported that around 328 CFR claims (164 in B form and 159 claims in C form) have been filed at the Gram Sabha and only 2 CFR titles have issued in the district.
Besides, out of the total(3061) IFR issued extension of different developmental programmes have been done over 1548 IFR titles holder including 866 under IAY,218 under MoPokhari, 447 under MGNREGS and 17 under National Horticulture Mission Schemes.
Sri Hemanat Kumar Padhi, the district collector, Nayagarh could not participate in the workshop due to his urgent engagement , However representatives of the workshop met him in his office and appraised him on the various FRA implementation issues in the district. The district collector has assured to extend all necessary support to the gram Sabha and all the facilitating agencies for early disposal of the community forest Rights claims submitted at the SDLC level and to demarcate the forest land already issued under Individual Forest Rights in the district.