Return CFR management rights to villagers

• Villages in over 10 districts in Chhattisgarh protest against the State Forest Department’s May 15 order suspending Community Forest Resource (CFR) management.

• Protests were held in Bastar, Kanker, Ambikapur, Narayanpur, Pithora, and other districts.

• Gram panchayats from over 50 villages have submitted memoranda to Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, seeking the withdrawal of the Forest Department order.

• Forest rights organizations Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan and Chhattisgarh Vanadhikar Manch call the order an attempt by the Forest Department to “declare itself nodal department for FRA.”