EVICTION OF
TRIBALS FROM FORESTS
The Ministry
of Environment & Forests have informed that there is no plan
to evict tribals from the forest areas. But encroachment is an
offence under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and it
has to be dealt according to the provisions of the said Act and
the State Forest Acts for the time being in force. The Central
Government had issued guidelines in 1990 after approval of the
Union Cabinet for regularisation of pre-1980 eligible encroachments.
These guidelines interalia also had a provision to review the
cases of disputed claims of tribals over forest lands and examine
the genuineness of the claims, for which the State/UT Government
should constitute a Committee comprising of a Revenue Officer,
concerned Divisional Forest Officer and an official from Tribal
Welfare Department.
The above
information was given by the Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri
Jual Oram today in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to the question
by Shri P.K. Maheshwari.
