Divisional panel reviews 84 rejected FRA claims

Nagpur: The divisional-level committee (DLC) discussed 84 individual forest rights (IFRs) claims under the Forest Rights Act, (FRA), 2006, and is likely to clear most of them.
In 2012, all these claims were rejected by the district-level committee headed by collector for lack of evidence. However, on May 18, 2020, the governor had issued a notification making modifications in the FRA, 2006.
The notification empowered divisional-level committees under the chairmanship of divisional commissioners to hear the appeals against the decision of the district-level committees.
Accordingly, the committee headed by divisional commissioner Prajakta Verma, in a virtual meet, reviewed the 84 claims in the presence of member-secretary and additional tribal development commissioner Ravindra Thakre, Gadchiroli conservator of forests (CF) Kishor Mankar, nodal officer of divisional FRA cell Harish Bhambre and others. Verma gave a patient hearing to the claimants and verified the claims.
In a press release, the divisional commissioner appealed to work positively on the pending claims so that poor tribals get justice.
Verma, however, did not respond to TOI calls when sought to know how many claims would be cleared and why these were rejected. Of the 84 IFR claims, most of them belonged to tribals and other forest tribal dwellers (OFTDs) from Bhamragarh, Sironcha, Allapalli, Gadchiroli and Wadsa.
“The claims were rejected earlier for want of substantial evidence like caste certificates, 75 years of residential proof, additional encroachments other than the claimed land etc. Not all the 84 claims will be settled. In the last meeting held in April, around 60 FRA claims were approved by the divisional committee,” said sources attending the meeting.