Tamil Nadu: Officials promise to process Forest Rights Act claims while implementing Supreme Court order

MADURAI: The district administration has begun processing claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) from residents of the forest villages, even as the authorities move to implement the Supreme Court’s directions on encroachments, officials said.

Government officials assured that the authorities would adopt a humanitarian approach while implementing the Supreme Court’s orders.

“The Court hasn’t given the final verdict yet. We request people not to get carried away by rumours about the immediate eviction of encroachers,” said a senior government officer. “We’ve so far sealed resorts and disconnected water and electricity connections to such structures. We’ve not carried out any such action in the hills where people are living.”

The district administration is also processing claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) submitted by residents. “After farmers’ organisations brought to our notice that a separate Gram Sabha, as required under the FRA, had not been formed in the forest villages, we initiated the process,” the officer said. The Gram Sabha serves as the primary authority for initiating the process of receiving, consolidating and verifying claims for individual and community forest rights in forest areas under the FRA.

Regarding the authenticity of the recently released list of encroachers, a Forest Department source admitted that it was a clerical error that resulted in the inclusion of 14 members of the Paliyar tribe from Nochiyodai tribal hamlet. “We’ll not evict them because we have issued FRA pattas and community rights to them,” the source said.

“Moreover, even if the eviction process is initiated, we’ll not carry it out mechanically. We’ll verify each patta and cross-check it with the boundaries before evicting encroachers,” officials said.

Elaborating on encroachments in the forest by outsiders, a source at the Forest department said only about 20% of the encroachers living in Manjanur and a few other villages within 30 km of the Kerala forest boundary were people whose families had settled in the forest three generations ago. “They live in thatched houses and cultivate one or two plots. We’re seriously concerned about rehabilitating them,” the source said.

The second category comprises people who have patta land and houses but have allegedly encroached upon additional forest land for cultivation. “We’ll not disturb their patta land or houses. We’ll take over the encroached land,” the officer said.

The third category comprises people who allegedly migrated to the hills in the 1990s and encroached upon forest land while exploiting earlier settlers through money-lending activities, the source said. “How can we allow such activities in the forest? We’ll definitely take over the land, mainly to protect the forest,” the officer said.

Elaborating on encroachments in the forest by outsiders, a source at the Forest department said only about 20% of the encroachers living in Manjanur and a few other villages within 30 km of the Kerala forest boundary were people whose families had settled in the forest three generations ago. “They live in thatched houses and cultivate one or two plots. We’re seriously concerned about rehabilitating them,” the source said.

The second category comprises people who have patta land and houses but have allegedly encroached upon additional forest land for cultivation. “We’ll not disturb their patta land or houses. We’ll take over the encroached land,” the officer said.

The third category comprises people who allegedly migrated to the hills in the 1990s and encroached upon forest land while exploiting earlier settlers through money-lending activities, the source said. “How can we allow such activities in the forest? We’ll definitely take over the land, mainly to protect the forest,” the officer said.