'Serious threat to Mizoram’: Opposition blasts new forest law, demands withdrawal

Aizawl, Sep 6: Opposition parties and several organisations in Mizoram have termed the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act (FCAA), 2023, adopted by the Assembly, as a "serious threat" to the state and demanded the repeal of the resolution endorsing the amendment act.

The Mizoram assembly during its recent monsoon session adopted a fresh resolution to extend the FCAA, 2023, to the state with effect from this year, following a motion introduced by Environment, Forests and Climate Change minister Lalthansanga on August 27.

Main opposition Mizo National Front (MNF), Congress, Zo Re-Unification Organisation (ZORO) and Joint Civil Society Mizoram (CJM), a coalition of several organisations, have blamed the Mizoram government for endorsing the new law, which they called a "serious threat" to the state.

MNF media cell secretary Lallianmawia Jongte said on Friday that the party, following the joint meeting of the party's National Core Committee, Political Affairs Committee and Legislature Party, submitted a petition recently to Assembly Speaker Lalbiakzama, urging him to convene a special session to rescind the resolution.

He said that the MNF also urged that the resolution adopted by the state assembly on August 27 should not be forwarded to the Lok Sabha secretariat as it is "against the interest" of the Mizo people.

The MNF strongly opposed to the FCAA, 2023, as it grants excessive power to the Centre over land, which is not safe for the Mizo people, Jongte said.

He said that the MNF has been consistently opposing the law, and when it was in power, the state assembly adopted a resolution opposing the amendment law after consulting political parties, churches and civil society organisations on August 22, 2023.

ZORO and the CJM echoed the MNF's concern, demanding the withdrawal of the resolution and threatening agitation if the government fails to act.

ZORO vice president Ramdinliana Renthlei said that the law could create serious issues for indigenous communities as the Central government could grab their lands due to the exemption for a 100-km area along international borders, which allows the central government to undertake "strategic linear projects of national importance and concerning national security" without seeking forest clearance.

He said that the adoption of FCAA, 2023, will infringe on the rights of the Mizo people enshrined in Article 371G of the Indian Constitution, which stipulates that no Act of Parliament relating to land ownership and transfer shall apply to Mizoram unless endorsed by the Assembly.

Renthlei also claimed that the law violated Article 244, which safeguards the authority of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), Union Territories (UTs), and states under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules.

Chief Minister Lalduhoma had argued during a discussion in the assembly recently that the amendment act requires adoption as the principal Forest Conservation Act, 1980, remained already in force in the state.

PTI