Pidikia is a village under G.Udayagiri block of Kandhamal district. The village residents have filed a claim of Community Forest Rights over 100 ha of forest land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in October 2016. The claims are still pending. Soon after the claim was filed, the forest department started the plantation in the area claimed by village residents for community forest rights. Within two months, the whole 100 ha area was fenced off by the forest department. The plantation was done under the Central Government's Compensatory Afforestation Scheme that allows the forest department to use the fund collected for plantation from the industries that use forestland for non-forest purpose. Due to the fencing, the community members are unable to enter the forest that has traditionally been used by them. The village residents claim this is a violation of their rights under FRA. They also allege that people in the village have been deprived of their basic livelihood options. Within the fenced area, there are 1 lakh Mahua trees on which all the households traditionally depended for earning. The plantation also stopped access to the community to their cremation ground and the grazing land. A focused group discussion with women, organized by Bhubneshwar-based nonprofit Vasundhara, revealed that due to fencing, the women were unable to collect Mahua and other medicinal plants which have resulted in the reduction of their yearly income. Gram Sabha members have filed a petition to the state tribal welfare department in January 2017 and demanded two things: a. Recognition of their Community Forest Rights as per their claims and b. No fencing and no commercial species plantation in that land. The tribal welfare department has issued a letter to the district collector following which an inquiry report on the matter has been submitted to the department.