Thousands of Adivasis and forest dwellers from more than 18 districts held a demonstration at the PMG here protesting against anti-tribal and anti-forest dweller laws, including Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 (CAMPA) and Draft National Forest Policies 2018.
Such policies are a conspiracy to take away the forest rights of the forest dwellers recognised under FRA, they alleged and lamented that after more than a decade, the progress of FRA implementation in Odisha was very poor.
The protest march was led by GopinathMajhi and other leaders of Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD). The meeting was presided over by Narendra Mohanty, core body members of CSD and attended by activists like Pradeep Sahu, Prafulla Samantara, Anna Kujjur, Suresh Panigrahi, KarmiBesra, BalrajuGemel, Trilochan Punji, Radhakanta Sethi, Akhya Pani, etc.
They submitted a memorandum to the Governor and the Chief Secretary.
Their demands include repeal of CAMPA, MoEF and CC guideline creating land banks from revenue and degraded forest land, recognition of authority of gram sabhas in FRA implementation, rollback of an order of National Tiger Conservation Authority illegally issued to subvert FRA in tiger habitat and forcing eviction of Adivasis, stopping diversion of rich biodiversity areas for development projects, reviewing and monitoring of the FRA implementation by SLMC, SDLC and DLC, among others.
