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Tribals receive only 200 Adhikar patrikas out of 26,697 claims approved by government

Even as the demand for tribal rights heats up across the nation with groups across states observing a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani distributed Adesh Patras to 1,589 claimants of forest land in Bhilad village, Umargam, Valsad district. Tribal families from 51villages were given out Adesh Patras.



However, Valsad district authorities informed Mirror that out of 34,000 claims made by tribal families upon parcels of forest land, while 26,697 claims have been approved through Adesh Patras, only 200 have received Adhikar Patras after mapping of their claims, since 2013.

Only 1,589 Adesh Patras distributed to tribal families The chief minister distributed 1,589 Adesh Patras (favourable recommendations) to tribal families from three talukas of Valsad, conditionally approving their claims, but subject to their parcels of land liable to be cut during physical verification and mapping of their claims which are pending post HC order in 2013.

On Tuesday, none of the families were either given Adhikar Patras (cultivation rights) or 7/12 document (land ownership) clearly stating the size of land and name of family members. However, speaking at the event, CM Rupani said, “Earlier governments never gave the tribals their land but our government has given land ownership to 1.25 lakh tribals.”

B C Chudasama, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) Project Administrator for Valsad informed Mirror that there were a total of 34,000 claims on forest land received from Valsad, of which 26,697 have already been approved as of February 28, 2019.

Asked if any Adhikar Patras had ever been handed out in Valsad, Chudasama said, “Approximately 200 Adhikar Patras have been handed out to families and the mapping of about 1,500 claims has been carried out but their orders have not yet been passed.”

Mirror had on March 2 reported that CM Rupani would distribute 3,256 land documents to tribals in Tapi-Vyara on March 3, but the majority of them – 2,809 – were Adesh Patras and only 447 were Adhikar Patras.

Tribal activists had criticised the government for letting the mapping of forest claims progress slowly. The CM had skipped this programme reportedly due to ill health.

PM Narendra Modi, who was also supposed to attend the tribal event in Tapi-Vyara on March 3, gave it a miss. Speaking at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Monday (March 4), the PM did not address the issue of forest rights at all.

PM Modi had said, “Work for water connection from Narmada and Tapi is underway, we are setting up an agriculture centre with Israel in Sabarkantha. I set up the first University for tribals and we have set up a tribal Museum in Rajpipla.”

The claimants
Of the 1,589 Adesh Patras distributed on Tuesday, there were…
● 872 claims from 22 villages in Dharampur taluka
● 657 claims from 25 villages in Kaprada taluka
● 60 claims from 4 villages in Umargam taluka

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