Spread over the poverty-stricken districts of Gumla and Palamau in the southwestern corner of Bihar, the Netarhat plateau is home to several tribes -- the Oraon, Munda, Kisan, Kherwar, Birjia and Asur. They eke a precarious living from small patches of land. They lack irrigation facilities; and the single annual harvest is seldom enough to feed them throughout the year.

For as long as Biphya Asur can remember, the army (23rd Artillery Brigade) has visited this area once a year and practiced shooting. In a neighbouring sal forest, Biphya points out to the ravages these guns have wrought -- shattered trees and large holes. At the edge of the sal forest, a raised mound marks the grave of Sauna Asur, who was hit by a shell when he was harvesting his crop.

Drum beats usually warn the villagers of a shoot. They are expected to pack up their belongings, gather their cattle and poultry, and remove themselves from the impact area. But very often, advance information does not get to them.

Biphya also claims that his crops are destroyed almost every year, and he has never received compensation. Very often, says Biphya, the large army trucks drive over crop ripe for harvesting. After up to as long as 14 days of living under trees in sun and rain, the villagers return to find several months of rations mowed to the ground.

Often, they were even afraid to admit that somebody had been killed by either shells shot astray or while collecting shells, to supplement their meagre income by selling the shells for the metal. Patrick Lakda, retired postmaster from Khairipath says, "Many people die, but their relatives say they've gone to Punjab."

But earlier this year, when the tribals heard about the notification in the Bihar Gazette that informed of the army's intention to develop a permanent firing range and cantonment over 1,471 sq kms of land in Netarhat, displacing 245 villages, they rose in protest. About 1.5 lakh tribals blocked the roads at Tutuapani, 6 kms from Netarhat, in March and then again in April this year. They are determined not to part with their land. Nor do they plan to allow the army to return for their annual practices.

The army staunchly claims that the neighbouring Palamau Tiger Reserve and Betla National Park will not be affected by the permanent firing range.

But a note written by the field director of Project Tiger, Palamau Tiger Reserve, to Lalit Kumar Oraon, member of Parliament, clearly states that several hectares of the forest land that will be affected by the range falls under Project Tiger and within 10 kms radius of the sanctuary, and that the proposed acquisition of land for the range will "enormously harm the habitat and wildlife of Palamau Tiger Reserve".

Moreover, the field director continues, no formal proposal has been received for the transfer of the land for non-forestry purposes, as is the prerequisite laid down by the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1973 (amended in 1991). But the land has been included in the area marked out by the army notification.

Members of the Jan Sangharsh Committee, formed by the residents of Netarhat to oppose the firing range, state that the ministry of environment and forests has lodged a formal protest with the Bihar government on the issue of acquisition of forest land for non-forestry purposes.