Himachal: People’s right to occupy and use forest land may be restored

Himachal Pradesh: Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi had recently announced that the state government will grant forest land rights to people under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The announcement has raised hopes of over 350 people from Kangra who have filed claims under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and have been waiting for years to get ownership rights to the land. The people claiming rights for judicious use of forest resources in their areas are generally traditional Gaddi and Gujjar shepherds who have been migrating to the forests of Chamba and Kangra districts with their sheep and cattle for centuries. However, these communities, who have been living in harmony with the forests around them, are facing challenges as forest and wildlife officials are driving them out of their traditional grazing lands. Recently, the Gujjars were not allowed to take their cattle to pastures falling in the Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary areas and forests of Chamba district. Gaddi herders in the Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary areas in Chhota Bhangal in Kangra district are also facing similar challenges.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006, gives traditional communities the right to make judicious use of resources in forests where they have been residing for centuries. Forest rights have been granted to migrant communities in some areas, but much remains to be done. As per the procedure, people can claim forest rights in their gram sabhas. Gram sabhas and local revenue officials have to endorse these rights. Next, the claim is presented before a sub-division level committee headed by an SDM. After the sub-division level committee accepts the claim, it is placed before a district level committee headed by a deputy commissioner, which approves and finally allots title under the Forest Rights Act to an individual or community. In Kangra, sources say most of the claims under the Forest Rights Act are pending with the district level committee. Recently, after pressure from the Chief Minister’s Office, the sub-division level committee accepted the claims of 89 Pong Dam displaced people living on forest land in Dehra for this purpose. The claims were sent to the district level committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Kangra.

After the district level committee approves the claims, land leases will be issued under the Forest Rights Act to the landless Pong Dam displaced people, who were being called encroachers on their own land for more than three decades. They became encroachers on their own land after the then Himachal government converted the entire common land into forest in the 1980s. Sources say that about 1.5 lakh families in the state are directly dependent on forest land. The area of ​​forest land of all these families is between one acre to five acres. These families are mainly Dalit and poor. The sword of eviction is hanging over these families and they are being evicted gradually. These families come under the category of traditional forest dwellers and other traditional forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act. However, protection can be provided to eligible families by giving them individual land rights lease. Sources say that the forest department has declared the pastures on which open grazing was taking place as per the seasonal grazing cycle as national parks or wildlife sanctuaries by planting trees on them, thereby forcibly depriving the cattle herders of the right to halt, water point, path and pasture. The Forest Rights Act provides livelihood rights to claimants in any type of forest area, national park or wildlife area.