‘Claims under FRA should be considered humanely’

Nashik: The claims on forest land by the tribals under ‘Forest Rights Act’ should be considered humanely, principal secretary of forest department Manisha Verma has said.

Reviewing the claims made by tribals to the district administration in Nashik, on Saturday, Verma said that there were large numbers of claims by tribals for forest lands that were rejected by the sub-divisional officers, but were later approved by the collectors.

“This should stop and the SDOs need to be more vigilant on the applications by the tribals. The claims should be considered humanely,” the principal secretary said.

The district collector Radhakrishnan B, officials from forest department and the tribal development department were also present at the meeting.

The principal secretary also reminded officers that the rejection of applications was based on very trivial issues which not only delayed the transfer of land to the tribal, but it also delayed the rehabilitation of the tribals who have been fighting for their rights for over decades.

“The sections and the clauses of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for tribals were made to ensure they get justice as far as their tilling of the forest land is concerned. Maximum of these were poor, unable to understand the parlance of the officers and hence there was a communication gap between them,” Verma said.

The principal secretary also lashed out for the lack of presence of forest officials for joint measurements of the land. “The forest officials have to lend all help required by the revenue and tribal development in cases of settling of the claims under FRA,” Verma said.

Out of the total 19,000 FRA claims by tribals in the district, about 6,500 have been settled. The state government has given the time till October to settle the claims and the work of the same is being carried out war footing, the officer added.


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