On 27 March, the Itanagar Capital Region administration issued an order based on a report from the Papum Pare Biodiversity Management Committee, which claimed that vegetable vendors were selling forest produce in the capital region. The DC, Talo Potom, formed committees for various sectors in the capital region, and 30 officers were deputed to check if such items were being sold.
What followed was a direct assault on the livelihoods of women vegetable sellers. The administration confiscated whatever they could lay their hands on – everything that came from the forest was forcibly taken away from the vendors, in a display of both arrogance and ignorance.
The vendors, all of them women, were left pleading with these officials to return their produce. The administration and the forest department should think twice before carrying out such actions. We have always relied on forest produce for sustenance, and no one has the right to deny these vendors their means of livelihood.