the goan I network
PANAJI
Even though the issue of the “illegal” forest-dwellers is only set to be sorted out after the model code of conduct (MCC) as no decision concerning them can be taken during the elections, Tribal Welfare Minister Govind Gaude has promised not to let the issue go, as he is closely associated with the issue through his activism, he told reporters at Kala Academy on Tuesday.
“My intention is not only to protect the tribals living in the forests, but others who have worked in the forest as well. The government is capable of protecting their rights and should do so,” said Gaude, saying that an issue regarding them had only cropped up because Forest Department officials wanted a physical survey on dwellers and the land they occupy to be carried out, which is a long and tedious procedure.
“The Scheduled Tribe (ST) Commission had carried out this survey using Google Surveys, but this was not acceptable to the Forest Department. Because of the objections from the Forest Department, the issue is pending for the past six years,” he said, adding that carrying out a survey physically for over 10,000 such cases took a very long time. Only 3 to 4 cases per taluka could be done in a day, he said.
Gaude also hit out at officials of Revenue, Forest and Tribal Welfare Departments, saying that the issue could have been resolved by them long ago, and these weren’t thing that ministers needed to resolve. “We need the co-operation of three to four departments to solve the issue but up until now, they were not co-operating because of their egos, and the common man has ended up suffering,” said Gaude.
The Tribal Welfare Minister also said that simply carrying out a survey wasn’t enough, and that reports had to be written for anything concrete to come out of these surveys.
Gaude said that once the MCC is over, the government would be able to give up to 90 sanads to forest-dwellers. He expected this to happen by June.
At the beginning of this month, the state government decided to reconsider 47 applications of those whose claims were rejected earlier.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had stayed its February 13 order asking 21 states to evict nearly 11.8 lakh forest dwellers whose claims over the land have been rejected by the authorities. As per information provided by the Goa government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, there are around 10,136 claims by STs and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) in Goa for dwelling rights. Out of these 10,136 claims, 47 have been rejected by the government.
In Goa, 6094 claims have been filed by STs of which 5834 are individual claims and 260 community claims. Of these, 42 individual claims have been rejected by the government. The number of claims filed by OTFDs are 4042 of which 3924 are individual claims and 118 community claims. 5 individual claims have so far been rejected.
