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Karat seeks Manmohan intervention

Special Correspondent

Delay in notifying Bill on forest dwellers

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has criticised the delay in notifying the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat described the delay as “inexplicable” and asked him to intervene to ensure that an important achievement of the United Progressive Alliance government was not “weakened or even subverted” by non-notification of the legislation.

The Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament in December 2006 and a committee to draft rules was formed in March 2007.

The draft rules were submitted in May 2007 and posted on a website for public comments on June 19. It was expected that the rules would be finalised by July 31 and the Act subsequently notified. However, nothing had been done even after six weeks, the letter said.

The delay in notification has led to a serious situation. Forest officials had taken advantage of the delay to evict tribals from many areas, the letter said.

Mr. Karat’s letter said, “Land cultivated by tribals for decades is being dug up for plantations by Forest Departments in some States in an obvious attempt to pre-empt the recognition of the tribal rights on that land. At the same time, there are reports of connivance between land mafia and the officials to take illegal possession of land. This is a most untenable situation.”

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