Uttaranchal overrules Govt, evicts Gujjars from Rajaji park

Despite clear cut orders from the Centre to halt eviction of forest-dwellers temporarily, in view of the proposed law to give propriety righ...

Despite clear cut orders from the Centre to halt eviction of forest-dwellers temporarily, in view of the proposed law to give propriety rights to them, Uttaranchal government has hastened the process to evict Gujjars from the proposed Rajaji National Park, thereby sparking a protest.

Officials of the proposed Rajaji National Park yesterday forcibly evicted several Gujjar families from Motichoor Range by destroying their temporary shelters. The evicted Gujjars then went to Raiwala police station but officials refused to intervene.

Later the Gujjars staged a dharna at the gate of the proposed national park, forcing the forest officials to postpone their eviction campaign.

Story continues below this ad

Wildlife Warden K.S. Rawat told the Gujjars that they would be given few more days to voluntarily quit the forests. The eviction campaign has begun barely a week after the the Union Environment Ministry orders (to stop eviction of forest-dwellers temporarily) reached Uttaranchal.

The Centre has decided to bring a legislation to give propriety rights to lakhs of forest-dwellers on the advice of the security agencies to end unrest and sense of discrimination against them, which has allegedly forced many of them to join the ranks of Naxalites.

Chief Wildlife Warden Shrikant Chandola when contacted said the orders of the Environment and Forest Ministry did not apply to the proposed Rajaji national park as it was a notified area under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Asked how some villages, railway line and cantonment areas are there in the park, Chandola admitted that one railway line was running through the park.

Story continues below this ad

More than 60 per cent of the land in Uttaranchal is under forests. Last month, hundreds of forest-dwellers from all over the state converged in Dehra Dun to protest against their forcible eviction.

‘‘We being Muslims are discriminated against and forced to evict despite the fact that revenue villages, army cantonment and railway line are there in the park area,’’ said Mustook Lambardar, a leader of the Gujjar community.

Awadhash Kaushal, Chairperson of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) who has been fighting fo the Gujjars, charged that the park was a proposed one and forest officials were misleading the people.