AHMEDABAD: In Gujarat, out of 1,82,869 tribal claims for land pattas/rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 57,054 claims have been denied by various administrations.
In the forest areas on which tribal claimed their first right, a total of 16,070.58 hectares of land has been diverted to various development purposes under the Forest Conservation Act 1980.
Under Compensatory Afforestation, 10,832.3 hectares of land has been given for forest. That shows a decrease of 5,238.28 hectares in land utilized for forest in Gujarat. On August 8, Congress MP Amee Yagnik raised a question in the Rajya Sabha about tribal claims for land pattas/rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
The government in its response said a total of 1,82,869 individual claims were received up to November 30, 2022, from the state, while 57,054 Individual claims were rejected up to that period. State Congress spokesperson, Parthiv Raj Kathwadia accused the government of depriving 91,183 tribals in the state of forest land rights.
Kathwadia said that it would mean that 49.8 per cent of tribals who applied for benefits under the Jungle Land Act were denied their right. There are 34,129 applications awaiting clearance. “The BJP makes huge announcements for tribals but when it comes to actually granting them their rights, the Bharatiya Janata Party government backs down,” Kathvadia alleged.
Giving reasons for rejection, the government stated in the Rajya Sabha that “general reasons of rejections of claims as reported by the state governments include non-occupation of forest land prior to December 13, 2005, multiple claims and the lack of sufficient documentary evidence.”
On August 7, 2023, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi posed a series of questions in the Lok Sabha about the projects for which forest land was obtained from the Revenue and Forest Department under the Forest Conservation Act 1980. In response, the Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Department provided data for the entire country.
According to it, a total of 16,070.58 hectares of land have been diverted for various categories under Compensatory Afforestation (CA) in the last 15 years. The government has stated that, in comparison to the amount of forest land used, 10,832.3 hectares of land have been given under Compensatory Afforestation from 2008 to 2022-23, indicating that the government has used 16,070.58 hectares of land in Gujarat under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 for various development works in the last 15 years.
Tribals losing land in Gujarat