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-The Times of India
The filing of nomination by a tribal woman for the panchayat samiti polls at Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district, the epicenter of the anti-Posco agitation, has sparked fresh controversy over the presence of tribals in the area.
Posco Pratirodhaka Sangram Samiti (PPSS) general secretary Sishir Mohapatra said, "The decision of Meena Hembram and Sara Das has belied the state government's claims that the area doesn't have any tribal population." He added, "Last year, the state government had told the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) that tribals don't live at the proposed Posco site covering Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang gram panchayats. It did so to avoid the implementation of the Forest Right Act." The state government had also told the MoEF that no traditional forest dwellers had cultivated the forest land in the area for at least three generations, Mohapatra added.
Hembram (46), a native of Polang village under Earasama block, said, "The posts of panchayat samiti members are reserved for tribal women. I filed my nomination after many people pursued me to contest the election. Five years ago, villagers had elected me as a ward member."
Last year, the Meena Gupta committee set up by Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had mentioned in its report 21 tribals are living in Polang. "Meena Gupta committee relied on the voter list of 21 tribals. But other tribals including the names of children were not mentioned in the voters' list," said Manorama Khatua, an anti-land acquisition leader of Dhinkia gram panchayat.
There are at least 40 tribals in Gadakujanga gram panchayat and two tribals who were cultivating betel vines in the forest land received a compensation package from the district administration for their land, Khatua added.
Surjit Das, land acquisition-cum-rehabilitation officer of the Posco project, admitted to have given compensation to two tribals for acquiring their betel vines. He, however, said the tribal woman candidate's house is unlikely to be acquired as "it is just outside the (Posco) area". "There were about 22 ST families living in Polanga. But after the Super Cyclone of 1999, 15 families shifted to other places. Now there are only eight schedule tribe families left in the village," said a local, Rajendra Hembram.
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