Affected people of Great Himalayan National Park to discuss rights today

SHIMLA: At a time when renewed efforts were being made by authorities to get Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) listed as world heritage site in the UNESCO's forthcoming meeting in Doha in June this year, hundreds of residents from Sainj and Tirthan valleys of GHNP area would be gathering at Shakti village on Sunday to discuss about their rights and other pending issues.
Residents of park-affected villages are not happy with the clandestine move to get GHNP declared as world heritage without settling the rights and other issues of local stake holders, said Himalaya Niti Abhiyan national convener Guman Singh.
"The forest department has already made a proposal to include Sainj and Tirthan valleys in Great Himalayan National Park. Creation of a bio-sphere reserve would deprive local stake holders of their right on forest land to be merged in GHNP. We would continue to oppose world heritage status to GHNP till our issues are addressed. Our demands should be met first, only then further steps on heritage status should be taken," Singh said.
Former MLA from Banjar, Dila Ram Shabab, said that people are living in the area since ages and they would not shift to other places abandoning their ancestral homes. "We are traditional forest dwellers and are dependent on this area for bona-fide livelihood items like grass, wood and timber for agriculture appliances and house construction. We want protection of our rights under the Forest Rights Act," he said.
Shabab said that efforts were on to declare the area covering 160 villages under 13 panchayats as eco zone so as to stop any new developmental activity in these villages, including new construction and land use.
People opposing the heritage status said that Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) apply here because they still have forest rights outside the core zone. "Rights which have been seized under 1999 award is not legal and people are in use of rights in core zone till date. The implementation process of FRA and recognition of rights need to be addressed first," they said.
Himachal Pradesh government had issued an award in 1999 and seized their forest rights in the core zone covering 754.4 sq kms. "Compensation was awarded as per Anderson Forest Settlement Report, 1884. Around 300 families were awarded compensation, which is questionable under law," they added.