Protest erupts in Kangra over delayed Forest Rights Act titles
Residents of Bara Bhangal and shepherds from various villages across Kangra district have expressed frustration over not receiving titles under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Many individuals who had applied for these titles gathered today for a protest in front of the Dharamsala Mini Secretariat, where they submitted a memorandum of demands to Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa.
Akshay Jasrotia, the State Advisor of Gamantu Pashupalak Sabha of Himachal Pradesh, participated in the protest and spoke to *The Tribune*. He said 50 community claims and 351 individual claims under the Forest Rights Act have been pending for years. He said these claims were approved by village-level committees and sub-division committees, yet have not been settled or issued titles.
Jasrotia said in 2014, forest rights committees were established in Gram Panchayats and the process of filing claims began. He said claimants submitted their individual claims in Form A to the relevant Forest Rights Committees and the Gram Sabhas prepared community claims in Forms B and C under Rule 11(4). He added after completing the investigation process, the claims were passed by the Gram Sabha and submitted to the Sub-Division Level Committee (SDLC).
Jasrotia said in 2020, community forest rights titles were issued by the district level committee (DLC) to 28 Gram Sabhas in Tehsil Multhan of Baijnath subdivision. However, the community forest rights claim from Gram Sabha Bada Bhangal, which had been approved by SDLC Baijnath and sent to DLC, is still pending. In addition, claims from Tehsils Baijnath, Palampur, Jaisinghpur, Nurpur, Dharamsala and Multhan in Kangra continue to be stuck at various stages, despite being passed by Gram Sabhas and submitted to SDLC and DLC.
Jasrotia accused authorities of evicting eligible families under the Forest Rights Act by issuing eviction orders before completing the necessary procedures, which he said violates Section 4(5) of the Act.
Despite the Congress party's election manifesto promising the implementation of the Act if they came to power, Jasrotia criticised the administration for its lack of action. He pointed out that even after two years of the current regime, not a single community or individual rights ‘patta’ has been issued in Kangra.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the DLC to allocate forest rights titles was held in Dharamsala today. Sources suggest the administration is expected to grant titles to many Pong Dam oustees residing in the Dehra assembly constituency.
The Kangra Deputy Commissioner, Hemraj Bairwa, was unavailable for comments.
