HYDERABAD: With a self-imposed deadline of declaring beneficiaries under the pattas for podu land programme of the state government, officials involved with the exercise of vetting lakhs of applications with claims over forest land are learnt to be grappling on how to go about the task. More than four lakh fresh claim applications for podu rights were received last year in different districts after the government called for them. But officials say that no more than five per cent of these applications might be eligible for cultivation rights on forest lands under the Recognition of the Forest Rights (RoFR) Act of 2006.
Even when the first round of applications were processed following the Act coming into force in 2006 with a December 13, 2005 cut-off date for forest land occupation, around 91,942 claims from 30 districts were rejected on various grounds, while another 15,558 claims were pending enquiry.
Sources in the government, involved with the current exercise, said enormous pressure was being experienced by officials in both forest and tribal welfare departments while the district administrations too are unable to figure out how to maximise approvals in face of strict RoFR Act guidelines.
Sources said that the forest department, which is the custodian of all forest lands in the state, is not required to sign off on any podu land applications as per the Act and it is for the tribal welfare officials to approve claims, or the respective district administration, which can do so on behalf of the tribal welfare department.
The real catch, the sources said, is that unless a way is found to prove that a claim falls under the RoFR Act purview, no rights or ‘pattas’ can be given. And if anyone approves a claim that fails to meet RoFR Act provisions, then such an official or officials could be in trouble for illegally granting land rights in forest areas. “This is a ‘who will bell the cat’ situation everyone finds themselves in right now,” an official said.
Even worse is the fact that more than half of the applications received last year were from non-tribals and giving them rights is a near impossible task if the government follows RoFR Act provisions, sources said.
Meanwhile, with expectations that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao could make some significant announcements on issuing of pattas during his visits to different districts in the next few days, a meeting of officials from both the departments has been called for by the government on Friday at the MCR HRD Institute in the city to find ways to solve the problem.
The meeting is scheduled to be addressed by both forests, and tribal welfare ministers, A. Indrakaran Reddy and Satyavathi Rathod, respectively, along with top officials of the two departments.
