Land Settlement Initiated For Odisha’s Largest Urban Slum Salia Sahi Under FRA 2006

Bhubaneswar: The Khurda administration has initiated the process for land settlement under Forest Rights Act (RFA) in favour of residents of Adivasi Sahi in Salia Sahi, the state’s largest urban slum in Odisha capital.

The Adibasi Gramya Unnayan Committee (AGUC) of Salia Sahi had submitted a memorandum seeking their right settlement under FRA-2006 following which the Directorate of SC and ST Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department asked the Khurda Collector to initiate action for immediate redressal of their grievances as per due procedure.

The committee had objected to the diversion of the land occupied by about 800 inhabitants of the area for the last five decades. The inhabitants are mostly from Scheduled Tribe communities and other traditional forest dwellers, including Santals who worship a local deity, Jahira. The committee also claimed that the community has the right to preserve and protect the local deity and it has been violated without their consent.

Acting on the appeal, SC ST Development Director Indramani Tripathy, on November 29 last year, directed the District Collector to initiate action as per the provisions of FRA, 2006 and Amendment Rules, 2012, and submit a report to the SC ST Development Department.

With this, Salia Sahi would be the first notified settlement under FRA 2006 inside an urban area. The action is likely to benefit hundreds of people living in the slum.