Chhattisgarh: Adivasis say FRA violated, as forest department marks trees for felling in 3 districts

It’s been four years since the Chhattisgarh government sped up the process of granting Community Forest Resource Rights (CFRR) to villages. But the forest department continues to interfere in Adivasi communities’ forest rights, with the latest instance being the marking of plots to fell trees in the CFRR villages of three districts — Dhamtari, Kondagaon and Bastar.

Villagers and activists have expressed outrage to Down To Earth over the officials’ activities on their lands. The villagers now have the legal right to protect, regenerate, conserve and manage these lands.

The state has received CFRR claims from 3,903 villages and four Nagar Panchayats in 25 of its 33 districts since 2019.

It has accepted 3,782 applications, as of March 2022, according to an official document of the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development Department. The state has also identified 12,500 villages and granted CFRR.

Also read: How forest-dwellers in Chhattisgarh, Odisha claimed rights over traditional boundary

Forest officers of the rank of Principal Chief Conservator of forest were active in the CFRR villages of Bhadsivna and Chargaon to supersede the marking, claiming that the steps are being taken under National Working Plan (NWP) Code 2014, said forest rights activist Benipuri Goswami.

“This is in complete violation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, under which the villages were granted CFRR,” Goswami added.

They hadn’t visited the villagers when the villagers were struggling for CFRR, but now they are here to interfere with the villagers’ rights. All top-rank officers are visiting the village in the name of revenue benefit from forest resources, he added.

“The marking for mass felling is rampant in Chhattisgarh beyond the three districts being mentioned,” said Vijendra Ajnabi — Convenor of Chhattisgarh Vanadhikar Manch, an organisation working for forest rights.

The NWP does not recommend large-scale felling. The forest department’s interest lies in revenue and they try to scare the community to stay away from forest affairs, Ajnabi raised.

The villagers of Chargaon and Bhadsivna told DTE that their Community Forest Management Committee (CFMC) and Forest Rights committee (FRC) had submitted a letter to authorities stating that they won’t allow the felling of trees.

Also read: Has forest rights Act enhanced the lives of Adivasis?

“We have also demanded that the benefit sharing should be sent to FRC instead of being in the purview of Joint Forest Management,” said Manoj Watti of Chargaon Purana basti.

The forest department fells trees and auctions them under Joint Forest Management (JFM). Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC) are promised a 20 per cent share in timber revenue, according to the National Forest Policy of 1988. The rest goes to the forest department. But activists said the JFM system lapses once CFRR is accepted.

However, in many cases in Chhattisgarh, forest department officers even hesitated to recognise the CFMC.

Sohan Netam, a resident of Bhadsivna village, also expressed confidence saying they will assert their legal right and will not allow forest officers to carry the felling of trees.

“The villages have been given CFRR but they haven’t done the required planning for forest management which is undertaken by CFMC. We have done marking for tree felling but we will not take any steps without the consent of Gram Sabha,” Mayank Pandey, the DFO concerned with Dhamtari’s villages told DTE.

Anubhav Sori, a social worker from Chhattisgarh, also expressed outrage over similar developments in the CFRR village of Gulba in the Kondagaon district.

The forest department officers had cut trees in large numbers in Kalepal and Nagalsar villages in Bastar, which are still in the process of claiming CFRR, he said. “We have the permission to carry felling of trees under National Working Plan, so we are doing it,” said DP Sahu, DFO, Bastar.

National Working Plan versus FRA 

The governance of forest rights shall be in accordance with the Forest Rights Act, Tushar Dash, an independent expert on forest rights, told DTE.

Section 4 (1) in the Act mentions that the rights, including the rights for management of CFR, shall be applicable notwithstanding anything contingent or any other law for the time being ensured, including judicial pronouncement.

Suppose there is a CFR area, that area should be governed as per FRA, not in accordance with any working plan. It is now the Gram Sabha’s authority to make changes to the working plan, Dash said.

“Working plan should be modified and changed as per the CFR and the plan of the Gram Sabha, not the other way around,” Dash added.

The operation of the working plan in relation to FRA has already been discussed at at the level of ministries — the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)

“The MoEF&CC agreed that the working plan operation has to be in consonance with FRA,” Dash said.

Also read: Community forest rights at work: Chhattisgarh’s Chargaon reaps benefits in first year itself

The management of CFR/CFRR areas comes under the authority of Gram Sabha. The problem starts when Forest Department implements working plan operations as a separate process. Working plans have to be made in compliance with FRA. The department has to first discuss with Gram Sabha and get their consent, said Dash.

Gram Sabhas and communities have been protecting forests based on their traditional knowledge and understanding of the environment and science. In the common practice of forest officers, scientific management means timber management, he said.

“Forest resources include all forest resources important for ecology and livelihood of people and not just timber,” said Dash.

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