Bandipora, September 17: The Forest Department on Wednesday organised a one-day awareness-cum-interaction programme on the Forest Rights Act at Chitternar, Bandipora, to hear the concerns of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers regarding implementation of the Act.
Saurabh Sharma, IFS, Conservator of Forests, Srinagar Circle, interacted with representatives of Scheduled Tribes and forest-dwelling communities and listened to issues faced by them in claiming their individual and community forest rights.
Speaking on the occasion, Sharma said the Forest Department has initiated outreach programmes across districts and forest divisions to directly engage with Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, understand difficulties in implementation of the Act and work towards addressing them.
He said the interaction focused particularly on difficulties related to submission of applications and settlement of individual and community forest rights. Representatives of the Tribal Affairs Department, the nodal department for implementation of the Act, also participated in the programme.
Sharma said the department would continue coordination with the Tribal Affairs Department to facilitate the settlement of eligible forest rights under the Act.
He said the objective was to ensure that genuine rights are recognised and settled while preventing fresh encroachments on forest land. He emphasised that eligible beneficiaries should receive their rights while forest land is protected from encroachment.
The programme provided forest-dwelling communities an opportunity to raise their concerns directly with the concerned departments and seek clarification on procedures related to forest rights claims.
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