-The Times of India
Over 2500 tribals and forest dwellers from all over the UP will reach Delhi on December 15 to take part in rally organised to protest tardy implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 and harassment by forest officials and mafia. Tribals and forest workers from other parts of the country will also take part in the rally, which is being projected as one of the biggest mobilisations of forest dwellers across the country. The day that marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of the Forest Rights Act in the Indian Parliament.
According to National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, more than thousand forest dwellers and tribals from different parts of the state — Saranpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahriach, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sonbhadra, Chitrakoot and Chandauli — attended the convention in Lucknow as a warming up exercise for the rally. The convention was held under the leadership of social activist Ashok Chaudhary, Roma, Rajnessh, Ram Chandra Rana and Shanta Bhattacharya. Significantly, participation of women was more than men in the convention. The common complaint of the participants was that forest officials along with police and district administration personnel were creating hurdles at the local level in implementation of the Act which provides right of the forest dwellers on the forest land. They also complained about harassment by forest mafia. They claimed that mafia has protection of higher ups. As a result, forest dwellers are living in abject poverty.