22 Lahaul villages threaten to boycott poll over forest rights

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, April 23

Residents of 22 villages falling under two gram panchayats Koksar and Sissu in tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti have threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha elections if the state government fails to implement the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

They said that despite there being a law to protect the forests rights of the people in the state, the state government was reluctant to implement it in full spirit. As a result, people were suffering.

Suman Sharma, pradhan of Sissu panchayat, said that in tribal areas, many families are doing cultivation for agriculture produce on forest land for the past several years. The Central government had enacted the Forest Rights Act 2006 to protect the rights of people on the forest land but due to the apathy of the state government it could not be implemented in this tribal district till today.

She said that during winter season, telecommunication service in these two panchayats had been non-functional for the past four months. Similarly, helicopter service was not provided to rescue those stranded.

“Road links of these villages have still not been restored by the Border Roads Organization and the Public Works Department. Due to that, the people of the area have strong resentment against the district administration and the state government”, she remarked.

“Today we have submitted a memorandum of our demands to Deputy Commissioner Lahaul Spiti Ashwani Kumar Chaudharidemanding action. If the state government and the district administration fail to act, residents of these 22 villages will boycott the Lok Sabha elections to express their resentment”, she lamented. The Lahaul Deputy Commissioner said “Efforts will be made to sort out the issues.”