Indigenous people at Ghundhum union in Naikhongchhari upazila have called on the local forest authorities not to allocate their lands for social afforestation.
The indigenous communities living in 268 Rezu mouza said they have been using the lands for Jhum cultivation since the British era, which has been their main livelihood since then.
Locals said 22 plots in the mouza were leased out to outsiders for a few years even though they have been paying taxes every year.
The Forest Department in Lama has recently planned to allocate plots again in the name of social afforestation, a move the indigenous people have described as a violation of their land rights.
On Thursday, upazila surveyor Monirul Haque visited the lands on behalf of the upazila nirbahi officer in the wake of the complaint from the indigenous families.
Local residents of the mouza said the lands already boast a whole lot of trees of many species, including fruit trees.
They questioned the motive for the anticipated lease, alleging that outsiders are bribing local forest authorities to secure the lease.
But Beat Officer of the mouza Zahedul Hasan argued that social afforestation would benefit the indigenous people.
“The Forest Department owns 2,000 acres of land in the mouza. It planted teak trees in a 1,400-acre tract in 1994-96 but those no longer exist,” he said.
