The NC Saxena Committee, constituted by the Union ministry of environment & forest, will visit the Posco project site this week to study the implementation of Forest Right Act.
?The committee is to tour three gram panchayats?Gadakujanga, Dhinkia and Nuagon ? of Jagatsinghpur district on July 23 and 24,? the Jagatsinghpur collector, Narayan Jena, told FE.
The 4,004 acre required for Posco-India?s 12 -million tonne steel project comprises 3,566 acre of government land and 437 acre belong to private owners. The site has about 2,958 acres of forest land. The South Korean steel company has already been accorded Stage II forest clearance by the Union ministry for environment & forest.
The state government in December 2009 submitted a report to the ministry, saying there were no tribals nor any traditional forest dwellers on the land that is going to be used for the Posco project. However, the ministry has received several petitions that said the state government had not properly implemented the Forest Right Act to use the land for industrialisation.
Abhaya Sahu, chairman of the Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti, an anti-Posco group, said even though villagers have receipts of their claims for the forest right, the district administration has reported to the ministry that there are no claimants in the forest areas.
The Jagatsinghpur district administration has geared up its machinery in view of the visit of the committee. Posco-India officials have also rushed to the district headquarters to lobby with the district administration on the issue.
The district administration has received a letter from the Union ministry of tribal affairs that Ashish Kothari, a member of the NC Saxena Committee, will visit the Posco project sites to study and give report on the implementation of the Forest Right Act.
The forest ministry had constituted a four-member committee under the chairmanship of Saxena to look into issues like settlement of rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognisation of Forest Right) Act 2006, particularly the specific impact on the livelihood, culture and welfare of the Dongaria Kondh, a notified primitive tribal group.