Court 'stays' Bengal-Sikkim bridge project

SNS, 18 February, Kalimpong: In what forest rights activists have been hailing as a big victory, the Calcutta High Court has deferred a bridge project

connecting Sikkim with West Bengal until implementation of the Forest Rights Act-2006 in the region, rights activists claimed here today.

The development is being considered a huge relief for villagers living in the Rangpoo Forest Village, where 58 families were to be evicted to make way for the project.

The civil and police administration had been allegedly trying to force the families to move out and had been allegedly applying pressure on the Rangpo Gram Sabha, so as to have a 'no -objection' certificate from the forest village dwellers.

It maybe recalled here that the High Court had earlier issued a 'stay order' only on the eviction process in the village concerned after the

Grant Sabha filed a case on 7 February Lila Gurung, the General Secretary of the Himalayan Forest Villagers Organisation, which is spearheading the forest rights movement, expressed happiness at the outcome of "the patience which the organization had been holding on for months."

"This is a big victory. We were with the truth and this is a victory of the truth. The decision is also a great relief for the entire village and the people living there. We may celebrate for the cause tomorrow if the court officially releases the order, Mr Gurung said.

"Today, Justice Debangshu Basak's bench has emphatically said no to all eviction attempts at Rangpo Forest Village in Kalimpong district. Giving verdict on a writ petition filed on 7 February by members of the Rangpo Gram Sabha, which alleged violation of forest rights as well as rights to livelihood as enshrined in the Indian constitution by the construction of a viaduct on the Bengal-Sikkim border, the court stayed the project till the recognition of rights of forest dwellers is completed. Also, till that time, it ordered no eviction of forest dwellers," a press release issued by the Uttar Banga Van Jan Shromojivi Manch and the Himalayan Forest Villagers Organisation said.

According to Mr Gurung, details of the order are awaited.

"Gram Sabha members of Rangpo and more than 200 other forest villages in various parts of North Bengal welcomed the order by the honourable Calcutta High Court and reiterate their resolve to continue the struggle for autonomy, dignity and rights," the release added.