BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has directed the state government to intervene into the alleged violation of Munda tribe members’ legal rights over their sacred groves and burial grounds due to the ongoing tiger supplementation programme in the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
The ministry has asked the principal secretary of the ST and SC Development department to abide by the provisions of Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 and Supreme Court order and provide the gram sabha access rights to the sacred groves and burial grounds under the law.
Munda tribe members, who were relocated from Jamunagarh village in the core of STR, had alleged that they were deprived of their community forest rights due to the ongoing tiger supplementation programme.
Fifty Munda families of Jamunagarh were relocated in two phases, once in 2015 and again in 2022, and moved to Nabera relocation colony in Udala. They had termed their eviction as arbitrary.
They said that since January this year, the STR authorities have prohibited them from accessing their sacred places at Jamunagarh as the land is now being used for tiger supplementation programme. Besides, JCB machines are being used to destroy their sacred groves (jayars) and burial grounds (sasan pilis) for creation of a bigger tiger enclosure, they claimed.
“Despite being given community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and PESA 1996, the tribals’ access to their forests and sacred spaces in the village is being denied,” alleged Munda leader Telenga Hasa. Members of the tribe had petitioned both the ministry and state government over the issue.
The ministry directed the government to abide by the FRA and SC order in protecting the tribals’ religious and customary rights over their land. It further asked the officials to check if the relevant provisions of FRA and Wildlife Protection Act were followed in relocating the tribals and if they were provided a relocation package.