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Majority Report of the Committee Constituted to ... - Forest Rights Act

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25. On 27 th July, 2010, <strong>the</strong> Orissa government began <strong>the</strong> process<br />

<strong>of</strong> taking over <strong>the</strong> forest land in <strong>the</strong> Gram Panchayat <strong>of</strong> Gadkujang. As<br />

per <strong>the</strong> letter <strong>of</strong> Principal Secretary, Environment and <strong>Forest</strong>s,<br />

Government <strong>of</strong> Orissa <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> Environment and <strong>Forest</strong>s<br />

(Annexure A 26), <strong>the</strong> lands <strong>of</strong> 96 persons, amounting <strong>to</strong> 11.85 acres,<br />

were taken at a compensation <strong>of</strong> Rs11.5 lakhs per acre (as per <strong>the</strong><br />

recent RPDAC order).<br />

26. As a result <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> report <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Saxena <strong>Committee</strong> and <strong>the</strong><br />

commencement <strong>of</strong> taking over <strong>of</strong> forest land in <strong>the</strong> area, <strong>the</strong> Ministry<br />

vide it’s letter dated 5 August, 2010 (Annexure A 27) quoted <strong>the</strong> report <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Committee</strong> and directed <strong>the</strong> Government <strong>of</strong> Orissa that no forest land<br />

be handed over <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> user agency. Based on <strong>the</strong>se complaints <strong>of</strong><br />

violations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> FRA, 2006, <strong>the</strong> Ministry felt that <strong>the</strong>re was need <strong>to</strong><br />

fur<strong>the</strong>r examine <strong>the</strong> compliance with <strong>the</strong> Scheduled Tribes and O<strong>the</strong>r<br />

Traditional <strong>Forest</strong> Dwellers <strong>Act</strong>, 2006 and Rehabilitation and<br />

Resettlement provisions, pending which a final decision would be taken<br />

on handing over <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> said forest land <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> user agency.<br />

Constitution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> present committee.<br />

27. This led <strong>the</strong> MOEF <strong>to</strong> constitute a four member committee, vide<br />

it’s order dated 28th July, 2010 (Annexure A 28) whose terms <strong>of</strong><br />

reference were fur<strong>the</strong>r amended on Aug 27, 2010 (Annexure A 29) . The<br />

committee consisted <strong>of</strong>:<br />

i) Ms Meena Gupta IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry <strong>of</strong><br />

Environment and forests;<br />

ii) Dr Urmila Pingle, an expert on tribal issues, Hyderabad;<br />

iii) Dr Devendra Pandey .IFS ( Retd), former Direc<strong>to</strong>r, <strong>Forest</strong><br />

survey<br />

<strong>of</strong> India, Dehradun<br />

iv) Dr V. Suresh, Advocate, Madras High court.<br />

28. The <strong>Committee</strong> was required <strong>to</strong> investigate in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> proposal<br />

submitted by POSCO-India Pvt. Ltd. for establishment <strong>of</strong> an Integrated<br />

Steel Plant and Captive Port in Jagatsinghpur District.The terms <strong>of</strong><br />

reference set out for <strong>the</strong> <strong>Committee</strong> were as follows:<br />

i) Investigation and ascertainment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> status <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Scheduled Tribes and Traditional <strong>Forest</strong><br />

Dwellers (Recognition <strong>of</strong> <strong>Forest</strong> <strong>Rights</strong>) <strong>Act</strong>, 2006 in and around<br />

<strong>the</strong> said forest land;

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