Post News Network
Keonjhar, July 9: The implementation of Scheduled Tribes and other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, which grants permanent record of rights to tribals residing in forests, has allegedly been far from being beneficial to the targeted people, thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the administration and lack of monitoring.
Tribals living for generations in forests of this mineral-rich district had a hope of getting permanent record of rights of their dwelling places when the act was implemented. But, scores of tribals are yet to reap its benefits.
Those who have got record of rights are confused over the exact location of the land for which the authorities have provided them pattas. This problem has been attributed to lack of monitoring by administrative officials.
A case in point is the inaccessible Barhagada under Bansapal block. The village has a population of 150 and of them, 50 belong to the Juanga community. Nearly 100 people have been provided record of rights, but surprisingly they do not have any idea about the land for which they have got the pattas. They alleged the Act has remained confined to only handing over pattas to forest dwellers as the land are not identified by tehsil officials.
As a result, the gullible tribals have to face a lot of hardships. A few months back, a Juanga on the advice of a revenue inspector was clearing a place in the forest. But, forest officials arrested him on the charge of felling trees. Such is the problem of many Juangas.
A villager, Manikar Juanga, said the administration had provided him record of rights (khata no.46 and plot no.267/4) for a piece of land, three years ago. But he has no idea about the exact location of his land.
He has repeatedly taken up the matter with the local tehsil and district administration, but to no avail. “What’s use of the record of rights, when I do not know where the land is located,” Manikar lamented.
Similar is the case with others who have got record of rights. Sagar Juanga, an elderly person of the village, said, “The government gave us pattas. The local RI identified a place, but when we started clearing it, forest officials arrested us and we landed in jail for quite some time.”
Project administrator of Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Santosh Nayak, said steps are being initiated to identify their land and give them the possession. Forest department and tehsil officials have been instructed to take necessary measures in this direction, Nayak added.
