‘We cannot let that happen’

 Bipin Nokrek, a Mandi man from Pirgachha village, said his family members cultivate two paddies and mustard on seven bighas on the low-lying land inside the forest.

"We have been growing crops on this land since the British era. Now, if a lake is dug on the land, what will we eat? We do not want them to dig any lake here," he said.

Kaushala Nokrek, a Mandi woman from the same village, said they grew crops on two bighas of land where the Forest Department wants to dig the lake.

"I got this land from my mother. My mother got it from her mother. I don't understand why they want to dig a lake inside the forest when there is so much space elsewhere. If they dig a lake for outsiders today, they will surely do many more such things in future to entertain outsiders. We don't want any of these here," she said, sounding disappointed.

According to Polan Chiran of Pegamari village, the lake will badly affect 47 acres of cropland; not just the land cultivated and inhabited by the ethnic minority communities.

"We cannot let that happen. Why can't they dig the lake in some other places?" he said.