The Orissa High Court has imposed a stay on the lease proceedings and alienation of forest categorised land towards a proposed Rs 65,000-crore worth steel project by Jindal Steel Works Limited (JSW Limited) in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district.

The court directed the state government to move the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest for compliance with regard to the rights of other traditional forest dwellers living in the area, where the steel project is proposed to be set up.

The traditional forest dwellers, living in Erasama area with cultivable possession of the land for decades, had earlier moved the High Court challenging alienation and diversion of forestland by the government agencies under Orissa Government Land Settlement Act, 1962 provisions.

“There must first be compliance with requisites made in a circular dated 3 August, 2009 issued by Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests. For this purpose, the State will move the Ministry of Environment and Forest in the Central Government to further their intention of alienation, in compliance with the requirements. Till compliance of the requirements, including recognition of traditional forest dwellers, is complete as filed in the lease cases, they will remain stayed”, a Division Bench of Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra ruled in an order.

K K Rout, the counsel for the petitioners, submitted that his clients are traditional forest dwellers in the area, where the Government had and is continuing the process to alienate forest land. He further submitted that the procedure must be interfered with under the sub-section (5) in section 4 of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

No member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete, the petitioners’ counsel Rout said, seeking interim protection pending adjudication.

The petitioners are permanent inhabitants of villages Dhinkia, Mahala and Gobindpur of Dhinkia Gram Panchayat under Ersama Block of Jagatsinghpur district which forms the part of the land where JSW intends to set up a steel plant of 13.2 MTPA capacity along with a thermal power plant, a cement plant and a captive jetty.

The proposed project site, also known as Dhinkia Chaaridesh, comprises eight villages spreading over three Gram Panchayats, namely Dhinkia, Nuagaon, and Gadkujang and the adjacent forest lands. The area is home to 22,000 people with a significant number of dalits, the petition stated.

This forested area is primarily known for its betel, cashew and paddy cultivation. Villagers also grow a variety of vegetables and fruits in these forest regions. Apart from that, the local forest caters to the needs of the people for fuel, housing material and other forest produce. In addition, the nearby Jatadhar river and its mouth are the only sources of sustenance for approximately 20,000 to 25,000 fishermen residing in the neighboring area. The forest land and its surrounding ecosystem serve as the only and permanent source of livelihood for the inhabitants of this region, it said.

These communities, comprising Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest-Dwelling communities have been living in and around forests for generations but were often denied recognition of their rights, leading to their marginalization, eviction, and denial of livelihoods, it added.