MARGAO
Minister for Tribal Welfare Govind Gawde on Friday exuded confidence that headway will be made in the disposal of pending cases under the Forest Rights Act in South in the next 3-4 months.
The Minister underlined the need for the Panchayat level committees under the Forest Rights Act to play a pivotal role in the disposal of cases.
After attending a high-level meeting at the South Goa Collectorate on Friday, which was attended by district Collector Ruchika Katyal and senior forest and other officials, the Minister said the meeting took stock of the disposal of the forest right cases pertaining to the villages of Sanguem and Cavrem.
“As far as Cavrem is concerned, of the 24 pending cases, around 10 cases have been cleared by the district level committee and these cases will be entitled for sanads anytime now. Eight cases, which have internal conflicts, have been resolved at Friday’s meeting. The remaining cases will be resolved after the demarcation of the private and government forest land”, he said.
Similarly, Gawde said the 1800 cases pending from Sanguem taluka have been taken up for consideration. “We have made headway in the disposal of these cases. We should not forget the COVID had come in the way during the last one year. In the past, the forest officials were not pro-active in playing their role in the disposal of the case, but have now extended cooperation to other departments in solving the issue”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister held a meeting with the district Collector as well as deputy Collectors and PWD and officials in the district Collectorate how to improve the basic amenities such as roads, water and electricity supply to Karla villages in Cavrem.
He also had a meeting with the network providers to improve the telephone network in the remote village for the benefit of the student community struggling with the network issues.
