Since 1972, the villagers of Balarampur and adjoining villages of Dhenkanal district of Odisha have been protecting 92 acres of forest land. This same land is adjacent to Tansa Hill which is also a physical forest that covers around 600 acres. This patch is home to various wild animals including elephant pathway. Further, villagers are dependent on this land for minor forest products. Industrial activities on this area would lead to environmental disaster. The conflict starts when the government of Odisha converted around 92 acres of forest land to revenue land. An area of 12.86 acre of grazing revenue land has been dereserved and transferred to Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha(IDCO) on lease for the construction of breweries. The villagers opined that,the whole process has been done without approval of central government, which is a violation of Section 2 of Forest Conservation Act, 1980. All these plots are physically dense forest having various matured timber species. If any patch of the area is being allowed for industrial activity, then the entire landscape will be adversely affected. The local villagers urge the government authorities to cancel the lease agreement if any made with IDCO as because the entire conversion, dereservation and transfer of land is blatantly illegal.
Region Classification
Type of Land
Common
Private and Common
Type of Common Land
Forest
Total investment involved (in Crores):
₹
Type of investment:
Land Area Affected
(in Hectares):