Forest Rights Act to be implemented fully

The Forest Rights Act, 2006, will be implemented in the state in letter and in spirit, said Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi while chairing an awareness workshop on various aspects of the law at the Culture Hall here today. MLAs Anil Sharma (Mandi Sadar), Chander Shekhar (Dharampur), Rakesh Jamwal (Sundernagar), Inder Singh (Balh), Surender Shourie (Banjar), Bhuvneshwar Gaur (Manali), Puran Chand Thakur (Darang) and Dilip Thakur (Sarkaghat), officials and NGOs from Mandi, Kullu, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Lahaul-Spiti districts took part in the workshop organised by the Tribal Development Department.

Negi, while addressing the participants, said that the state government was committed to protecting the rights of all communities. He stressed that the Forest Rights Act provided several rights to communities dependent on forests for their livelihood, especially those who had lived on forestland for three generations or more before 2005. These individuals could file claims through their gram sabhas and upon verification, they would be issued forest rights certificates. He clarified that these rights could not be sold or transferred but could be passed on to generations.

The minister also discussed the details of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and advised officials to expedite the process of claim settlement. He said that eligible individuals, who had been living or doing farming on forestland before December 13, 2005, could still file claims for legal right on the land. The law, he stressed, was not intended to support illegal occupation of forestland but aimed at providing legal recognition to those who had traditionally depended on it.

Negi instructed all Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs), who also head the sub-divisional committees, to hold meetings with the forest rights committees and gram sabhas by May 31 to create awareness. He emphasised the importance of forming forest rights committees in all panchayats and announced a special campaign to educate people about the Act.

Claim settlement

• The claims submitted by the gram sabhas will be forwarded to the sub-divisional committees for verification
• The district-level committees, headed by the Deputy Commissioners, will verify the claims and review and approve them
• After verification, forest rights certificates will be issued to the applicants