THE GENERAL reaction to the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) in the UP hill region of Uttarakhand is, "Hum paryavaran shabd se hi tang aa gaye hai." (We are fed up of the word environment.)

The cry "Paryavaran murdabad" (Down with environment) first rang across the Uttarakhand hills in 1989, setting into motion a series of protests against FCA. Angered by the delay in issuing official permission to cut trees on planned road-routes, people cut down the trees themselves. The residents of Dasholi offered shramdan and cut down trees blocking the construction of a proposed road from Chamoli to Beraskund via Paletti. Women and children also took to cutting trees that had delayed the Someshwar-Girecheena-Bageshwar road. At Langsu, on the Badrinath-Kedarnath road, the Gram Pradhan Sangh of Chamoli district, the Mahila Mangal Dal and the Yuvak Mangal Dal and a number of other groups resorted to a four-hour chakka jam to protest the delay in the construction of the Sonla-Kandara-Narayan-Bagad road.

Political groups have been exploiting the widespread antipathy to FCA. Because they are portrayed as government property, trees growing on proposed road-routes are an obvious target for anti-government protests which take the form of organised tree-cutting drives.

The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, a local political group that was once a part of the Chipko Andolan, has resorted to pedh kato andolan (movement to cut trees) in Dwarahat and Naugara.

Responding to delays and growing local resentment, Chipko leader Chandi Prasad Bhatt says, "I can't start a pedh kato andolan, but if officials in New Delhi don't respond, I will be forced to start a log bachao andolan (movement to save people)."