Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought reports from the Centre and Odisha government on alleged lack of facilities in 4,526 forest villages in the country, including Odisha.
The Commission issued notices to the Secretaries of the Ministries of Rural Development and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Odisha Chief Secretary to look into the serious issues raised in a petition filed by human rights activist and lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy.
The petitioner alleged that more than 400 forest villages and hamlets do not get basic amenities like revenue villages.
Stating that forest villages are designated as zero villages if they are located within the reserved forest area, he said as the forest villages are not on revenue records, they have no elected representatives or Gram Sabhas.
As per the 2011 census, Odisha has 47 forest villages. In May 2016, the Centre had admitted that there was a need for the conversion of forest villages into revenue villages considering the difficulties faced by the people living in forest villages.
The petitioner also pointed out that there are issues of human trafficking, man-animal conflict, distress migration, malnutrition, and the absence of healthcare and educational facilities in these villages. These issues need to be resolved on a priority basis, he added.
Noting that the villages were in Dhenkanal, Angul, Ganjam, Nayagarh, and other districts of Odisha, the petitioner said zero villages should have facilities of safe drinking water, playgrounds, all-weather roads, primary health centres, education under the RTE Act, and toilets for better livelihood.
Noting that people of these villages lead a miserable life with sufferings, he said the forest villages in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand are also struggling for basic amenities, bare necessities, and other welfare schemes.
While issuing notices, the Commission asked the authorities concerned to look into the serious issues raised by the human rights activist, ensure the needful action, and submit their action taken reports within eight weeks.
