Bhopal, June 16: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to "correct the grievous injustice meted out to the tribal community in his state due to the delay in settling their claims on forest" and declaring forest villages as revenue villages. In a letter to Vajpayee, ahead of latter's visit to predominantly tribal Mandla district tomorrow, Singh said "adivasis of the state have waited for over 23 years for their genuine occupation prior to regularisation of Forest Conservation Act (FCA) and in the case of forest villages since independence for their land rights to be acknowledged,” an official release said here today.
Singh said he hoped that Vajpayee would give an assurance during his visit on both these issues and give directions for immediately and unconditionally settling the rights of the tribals who are in occupation of forest land on or before October 24, 1980.
The settlement involves legitimising rights on the land that the tribals had occupied prior to the coming into operation of FCA, 1980, he said.
"Though the occupation is prior to 1980, after the FCA the issue of settling this becomes complicated through protracted correspondence between the state government and the government of India,” Singh added in the letter.
Bureau Report