HC orders Telangana govt to provide water to adivasis displaced from Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad has ordered the Telangana government to ensure that approximately 200 adivasis, who were evicted from the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary on September 16 this year, be provided access to water for drinking and other needs..A PIL filed by the Civil Liberties Committee challenging the government’s action, said that over 30 dwellings, a borewell and a school had been demolished in the area. The evictees have since moved back into the area..The Additional Advocate General told the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice M Ganga Rao that while the adivasis had a right to collect minor forest produce for a livelihood, they did not have any right to encroach on and live in the forest. He relied on the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (WPA) without quoting specific provisions ..He also added that the government had provided pucca houses and put in place other measures to rehabilitate the aggrieved parties, but that they had refused to accept the same..Advocate for the petitioners V Raghunath relied on Section 3 of the The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Dwellers Act) and said that the adivasis had every right to live in the forest. That provision states,.“(3)(1) For the purposes of this Act, the following rights, which secure individual or community tenure or both, shall be the forest rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on all forest lands, namely:.(a) right to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers…”.The Additional Advocate General at this point said that while the Act referred to forests in general, the area in question was a wildlife sanctuary. The Bench then relied on Section 4(b) of the Forest Dwellers Act, and pointed out that they could only be forcibly resettled if it could be proved that they were causing irreversible damage to native plant and animal species and their habitat..The Court also ordered the government not to take any coercive action for a period of three weeks, and ordered it to file a counter affidavit within two weeks..The Eturungaram Sanctuary, located in the Warangal District of the State, was established in 1953, and spans 803 square kilometers, according to the official Telangana Tourism website..Click here to download the Bar & Bench Android App