To
The commissioner cum Secretary ST and SC development Dept.
Govt. of Odisha Bhubaneswar.
Subject: Regarding alienation of tribal land and common lands forcefully doing plantation and encroachment and recognition of Community Forest Rights.
Dear Sir,
We the undersigned 38 villagers of Nuagaon Block of Nayagarh District bring to your kind attention of the apathetic situation created for alienating our individual as well as common land upon which we have been critically depending for our livelihood.
1. That we the permanent residents of Kapatapalli GP of the said block would state that the Non-tribal people from village Gumi, Bahadjhola and Bhaliadih of Nuagaon block and individuals from bordering Ganjam district have taken away our land and recorded in their name through allurement and fraudulent means. Those non-tribal people have been doing massive cashew plantation and earning huge money from our land. Despite having protective legislation to protect tribal lands and common property resources how the records of those lands are changed in the non-tribal. Some information relating to individual lands are annexure herewith.
Since Nuagaon Block is a MADA area drawing special attention for the poor tribals, the issue of land is most critical for the livelihood of our poor tribals special care should be given to resolve these longstanding gradual alienation of our land and common resources(CPRs).
This is in gross violation of section 22, 23, 23A of Odisha Land Reforms Act 1960 which says that "any transfer of a holding or part thereof by a raiyat, belonging to a ST shall be void except unless-(a) a person belonging to a ST or (b) a prior permission is taken in writing for such transfer from Revenue officer in case of non-ST". We are also not aware about the process of which lands have been alienated.
We pray for necessary investigation to reveal the facts and appropriate measures to restore the land and livelihood of our poor tribals.
2. That we have been cultivating over the lands, since our forefathers time, classified as forests in the previous(Sabik) settlement held in 1962 ( Under the then Puri district). Such a situation is prevalent in almost all the villages. We were collecting the forest produces available in those lands, which in the subsequent period converted cashew field through plantation by Revenue Dept, which deprived the community from access and collection of forest products they were collecting traditionally. The cashew field has been auctioned by Cashew Development Authority to powerful vested interests; ignoring the stake and dependency of poor villagers. Presently, we have applied for Community Forests Rights under "the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 " in all the villages. Therefore, we request the government to recognize and vest the community forest rights over those lands covered with cashew plantations and other forest resources under FRA.
3. That we were deriving our livelihood from grazing and agriculture over our village common lands since generations. Here the government did plantation of cashew and the officials assured us to enjoy the fruits by guarding and protecting them. However, in subsequent period cashew field was given lease to the outside business traders. So we the tribal tenants have been deprived from our traditional access to common resources and cashew field, which was assured to us during plantation.
As per the order of Honourable Supreme Court of India on dated January 28, 2011, Civil Appeal No.1132/2011 @ SLP (C) No.3109/2011, common land cannot be settled against the influential individuals or vested interests except the most vulnerable ST, SC or other marginal families. The court has directed to hand over the common lands to the Gram Sabha / Gram Panchayat for safeguarding and managing them. However, such law has not been used so far in the ground.
We, therefore, demand for handing over of the common property to the Gram sabha as directed by the Hon. Supreme Court.
The above issues are not limited to the Nuagaon block, rather widely prevalent in other tribal-dominated places of Nayagarh district.
We, therefore, request you to take necessary and immediate action to restore and secure the individual land as well as common lands of the people.
Yours faithfully,
Ganga Behera, Somanath Behera and other villagers of Kaptapalli Panchayat.
https://www.fra.org.in/document/36214,%20Nayagarh.pdf
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