Goa Affairs
State hopes to clear 5,000 forest claims by Dec 19: CM
Chief ministerPramod Sawant said that at least 50% of the 10,136 pendingclaimsunder theForestRights Act, 2006, and land ownership rights can be expedited and processed by December 19. He, however, put the onus of delay on traditional forest dwellers saying that poor attendance at meetings convened for scrutiny and verification of the claims has delayed the
process.Sawant said that at least5,000 claims, which have been pending for around 10-12 years, can be cleared if the tribals and forest dwellers participate in the meetings being held by November-end at the panchayat-level.
Forest right cases, as per provisions of The Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 are being sped up.