49 FRA claims cleared in Rajouri

Rajouri |: The District Level Committee on Forest Rights Act Friday cleared 49 FRA claims here at its meeting chaired by District Development Commissioner, Rajesh K Shavan.
The meeting was attended by the DFO Nowshera, Neelima; ADC Rajouri, Sachin Dev Singh; ADC Kalakote, Krishan Lal; ADC Sunderbani, Vinod Kumar Behnal; CPO, Mohammad Khurshid; SDM Thanamandi, besides other concerned officers attended the meeting.
After a threadbare discussion and scrutiny of all the claims put up in the meeting, the committee settled 49 FRA cases, taking the total number of claims cleared till date to 895 with benefits reaching to over 4772 families and 23860 souls.
All ADCs and SDM were directed to recommend atleast fifty FRA cases in the next DLC meeting.
Stressing on the need for generating mass awareness among the public about the Act, the DC said that it gives the community the right to protect and manage the Forest and conserve community forest resources.
He asked all the concerned to give wide publicity to the different provisions of the Act and make sure that no eligible beneficiary of the district is left out from availing the benefits.
Directing the officers for making collaborative efforts for the successful implementation of the act on ground, the DC said forest rights are the basic rights of the tribal population and added that the need of the hour is to work in a mission mode to safeguard the interests of communities dependent on forest resources, and whose existence is incomplete without forests.