Hyderabad: The Telangana state government’s tribal welfare and forest departments have their task cut out on issuing ‘pattas’ or user rights, to tens of thousands of applicants who have sought such pattas for illegally occupied forest land in the state.
Government officials said they were shocked at the demand for pattas for illegally occupied forest lands in some districts. But when asked about the applications received thus far, officials said they were under strict orders from the state government not to reveal any information on the number of applications received, or the extent of land that had been sought by the occupants seeking pattas.
Officials said though they were expecting a lot of applications for Podu ‘pattas’, the demand in some districts had left them flabbergasted. For instance, in one district in which officials, after poring over Google maps over the years, found around 2,000 acres of occupied forest land, received applications for pattas for more than 30,000 acres.
Calling this flood of applications insane, an official said the Podu land issue was unlikely to be resolved easily. Or if the government gave in to the demand from every applicant, then the state would lose substantial chunks of forest land to illegal occupiers in most districts that had forests, the official added.
In another district, applications were received for Podu ‘pattas’ for around 70,000 acres, which was in addition to nearly a similar extent of land over which user rights were given to tribals after the implementation of the Record of Forest Rights Act 2006.
As per data provided by tribal welfare minister Satyavathi Rathod during awareness meetings in some districts in the run up to the start of receiving applications on November 8 for Podu ‘pattas’ under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, as many as 96,676 claims were approved giving farming rights on 3.08 lakh acres of forest land in the state to tribals.
While 15,558 past claims over 53,565 acres were pending inquiry, 91,942 claims for Podu covering 3.27 lakh acres were rejected. After the implementation of the ROFR Act of 2006, a total of 2.04 lakh claims covering 6.90 lakh acres in the state were filed seeking Podu cultivation rights, said the minister.
Officials now worry that with Podu lands issue assuming a political hue, and every political party supporting the illegal occupiers of forest lands in Telangana, any approval of claims whether under the guise of following ROFR Act provisions, or in its violation by giving Podu ‘pattas’ for land on forest fringes as promised by the state government, will result in opening of floodgates for more occupation with people hoping that future governments too will follow suit and cave in to pressure from political leaders.
What Forest Rights Act says:
According to Section 2(c) of FRA, to qualify as Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe and be eligible for recognition of rights under the Act, three conditions must be satisfied by the applicant/s, who could be “members or community”:
1. Must be a Scheduled Tribe in the area where the right is claimed; and
2. Primarily resided in forest or forests land prior to 13-12-2005; and
3. Depend on the forest or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs.
To qualify as Other Traditional Forest Dweller (members of other communities) and be eligible for recognition of rights under FRA, two conditions need to be fulfilled:
1. Primarily resided in forest or forests land for three generations (75 years) prior to 13-12-2005, and
2. Depend on the forest or forest land for bona fide livelihood needs.
