Express news service : Ahmedabad, Fri Apr 05 2013, 04:18 hrs
The state's Tribal Development Department (TDD) has extended the
Forest Rights Act to non-tribal regions of Gujarat, paving the way for
forest dwellers such as maldharis (pastoralists) to legally lay claim
over areas they inhabit. Some officials predict that it would force
other departments to act especially in terms of halting talked-about
maldhari evictions in Gir, Saurashtra and revenue settlements in the
Banni Grasslands, Kutch.
The Forest Rights Act has been in force in the state for more
than five years now, although it has been restricted to 12 districts
covering 43 talukas in the eastern tribal belt.
The government resolution issued by the TDD as Assembly elections
approached last year but which was apparently kept under wraps due to
the model code of conduct, says district collectors would be
chairpersons of district-level committees formed under the Act, with
three members of each district panchayats to be nominated members.
However, posts of member-secretaries would be held by officials
of the TDD - the department's planning officer at Talala would be
member-secretary of committees in Junagadh, Porbandar, Amreli and
Jamnagar.
The department's vigilance officer of Rajkot will hold the post
for Rajkot, Surendranagar and Bhavnagar, while his counterparts in
Ahmedabad would be member-secretary for Ahmedabad, Anand, Kheda and
Gandhinagar and the one in Palanpur for Patan and Mehsana. The Kutch
social welfare officer would be member-secretary for Kutch region.
As for expected changes in the Gir forest, senior forest
officials said the "worrisome" increase in domestic animal populations
would now have to be tackled through means other than eviction, which
has anyway come in for criticism lately due to evidence that most of
those shifted out in the early 1980s eventually shifted back inside and
either sold land allotted to them or converted it for other purposes
other than traditional means of livelihood.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/forest-rights-act-extended-to-nontribal-areas/1098517/
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