More than 700 community leaders of 130 gram panchayats of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts at the valedictory function of the loka Sanghathan Utsav here vowed to protect land, water, forest and ecology for the posterity. “We have named mountains, rivers and streams. Our ancestors had fought for the water, land and forest from the time immemorial. But, now, we are struggling for essentials of life. So it is high time for united fight to get rights over the land,” observed the community members.
Village Forest Rights Committee of Umadeipur GP under Sarasakana block president laxmidhar Munda stated that they had formed a committee to facilitate people getting individual land rights. He said as many as 14 individuals have already availed land rights. Unlike laxmidhar, other community leaders like Sudam Murmu, Shanti Nayak, laxmi Munda, Ramesh Marandi and Bhaskar Nayak maintained that though the individual forest rights claims were being settled, the community claims were still being kept awaited because as the District level Coordination Committee yet to clear the claims. Prior to the concluding ceremony community leaders took out a public rally demanding the rights for the Gram Sabha to decide. Sources said four such regional loka Sanghathan Utsav will be held at Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Koraput and Kandhamal.