Kerala - Kozhikode   

Farmers demand return of EFL

Kozhikode: Farmers whose lands have been taken away under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act, 2003 (EFL Act) held a meeting here on Saturday to discuss ways to pressure the government to return their lands.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the Malayora Karshaka Samrakshana Samithi (association for the protection of hillside farmers), which is leading a movement calling for an amendment to the Act.

The farmers alleged that a clause in Section 2(c) of the Act, which says that “forest means any land principally covered with naturally grown trees and undergrowth,” had been interpreted in such a way that even land under cultivation for years had been indiscriminately classified as EFL by forest officials.

“In any agricultural land in hilly areas of Kerala, you will see that for every acre of land, there will be 40 coconut trees or 100-200 rubber trees or 250-450 coffee or cardamom trees and a large undergrowth of grass,” said Shaji Kokkadan, who heads the samithi.

Section 4 of the Act did not require the land to be designated EFL to have a forest boundary. To be considered EFL, the land should have an abundance of flora and fauna and presence of rare flora and fauna or it should function as a corridor connecting two or more wildlife sanctuaries.

Mr. Kokkadan said that all these provisions in the Act had been interpreted very broadly to seize land.

To a Right to Information Act petition filed by the samithi, the Custodian of Economically Fragile Lands responded that a total of 32,650 acres of land had been acquired as EFL. More than 200 applications were pending with the custodian for return of seized lands. Mr. Kokkadan said that no action for their return had been taken yet as the Act did not mention any timeframe for the appeal process.

“The government is not bound to offer compensation or provide alternative land under the EFL Act. Lands have been seized from daily wage labourers who own as less as five cents to marginal farmers and even big landholders,” Mr. Kokkadan said. “Before the Lok Sabha elections, all candidates had promised us to amend the Act but they have now disappeared.”

The farmers are planning to meet all legislators and convey their grievances in the first phase of the agitation. They said that a legal solution was unfeasible as forest cases dragged on for years. The samithi leaders decided to organise meetings in more places as they felt that the public perception that only forest land was being seized through the EFL Act needed to be changed, to help drum up more support.

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