Where’s the liberated bamboo in Maharashtra

“We were expecting them [the Maoists] to do something like this,” said a villager from Gadchiroli district, referring to the killing of 12 CRPF personnel when suspected Maoists triggered a landmine blast at Pushtola village on March 24.

“Two days ago, at a meeting in Mendha Lekha village, [Union minister] Jairam Ramesh had appealed to the villagers not to let the Maoists in. This may have angered them.”

“We fear the Maoists also set fire in the forest a day before the attack and burned the bamboo  as punishment for hosting Ramesh,” the villager told DNA on condition of anonymity.

The accusations seem to carry a grain of truth as for a couple of days following the attack, villagers of Mendha Lekha did not go near the spot inside the forest, around 8km from the village, to assess the damage to their “green gold”.

While all know about the Maoists terror in Gadchiroli district, only a few are aware of a less-talked about, but perhaps more important issue: The non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

In 2009, Mendha Lekha and Mardha became the first two villages in the country to be granted rights over their community forest lands under the provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).

But, the system kept control of the transit permits, which give tribal villagers legal right to indulge in commerce on forest products and keep official records, with the forest department. Though, the provisions of the Act meant that the gram sabhas had control over the transit permits, resistance from the forest department meant Mendha Lekha had to launch a satyagraha.

On April 27, 2011, at a public ceremony in Mendha Lekha, a small village located 30km from Gadchiroli, then union minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh handed over a transit permits (See box, The Revolution) to the village leader Devaji Tofa and announced: “Today, bamboo is liberated.”

For CM Prithviraj Chavan, it was a historic occasion as it “serves to empower the local villagers and make them economically stronger”.

But, as the first year of this experiment draws to a close, it seems that the officialdom has invested energy in ensuring that the picture looks good on paper. In reality, it is another story.

In the current bamboo-cutting season at Kakadyeli and Godalvahi villages in Gadchiroli district, Ballarpur Industries Ltd — India’s largest manufacturer of writing and printing paper in India — continues to axe bamboo though the lands falls under the community forest rights (CFR).

In a March 15 letter to Chavan, Ramesh pointed out that the paper mill continues to extract bamboo from several villages where the CFR claims have been recognised.

Madhav Usendi, 40, a member of the forest rights committee of Godalvahi, said: “Who said forest rights have been granted to our village? We have not received the land titles.” When told that the official records showed otherwise, he said: “I haven’t seen them [the land titles]. It could be that we haven’t received the documents yet.”

Godalvahi houses 1,000 villagers and covers 2895.89 acres of forests. Here only a few villagers seem to have heard about the Forest Rights Act. The situation at Kakadyeli village is no different. 

The village’s forest rights committee members claimed they had approached the local administration and the forest department on several occasions, but were only successful in getting individual forest rights claims cleared. With a population of 320, Kakadyeli has 967.20 acres of forest.

Even the village police patil Ghansyam Usendi was bitter.
“The forest department told us during an open meeting that if we cut our own bamboo, it would be illegal as the rights over community forest land have not been recognised yet.”

But the officials concerned claimed that all efforts are being made to expedite the claims for rights. Divisional conservator of forests, G Mallikarjun claimed they support the forest rights of tribals.

“The villages are yet to approach us for transit permits. To increase awareness, I have personally organised village meetings to explain the procedure and dispel doubts.”

Principal secretary (forests) Pravin Pardeshi said they are trying to clear all pending claims. “There are only 108 community claims pending. Our officers have been asked to proactively provide the department’s documentation for the claim-making process.”

But there is still resistance from the forest department officials. State tribal minister Babanrao Pachpute said: “They opposed it initially. But now, it has now vastly moderated.”

Even state forests minister Patangrao Kadam concurred that massive pressure from the villagers had led them to making quick decisions. “We had decided to expedite the process of clearing claims after the recent massive rally.”

Villagers from Mendha Lekha plan to count the number of bamboos that were burned down in March. “On Tuesday, the villagers will finish counting the number of bamboos that got burned in the fire. Also, a final tally of the bamboos cut is expected to be done,” said the villager, who did not want to be named.