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“Some states have given titles to forest encroachers who occupied forest land after the cut off date of 13.12.2005 primarily on oral statement of village elders and by not taking into consideration most impartial and scientific evidence of satellite imageries showing status of forest occupation prior and after 2005,” the letter said.
“States started the implementation of FRA from 2008 in right earnest but simultaneously fresh encroachment of forest lands by unscrupulous elements got accelerated since the encroachers found a great option in the section 4(5) of FRA which mentions that the claimants cannot be evicted or removed from forest land till the process of forest rights recognition is complete. People encroached overnight and immediately submitted a claim under FRA to the Gram Sabha making the forest department simply helpless in the matter. Apparently for political dividends, some politicians promised to regularize such encroachments especially before elections to local bodies and state assembly,” the letter said.
In recent years, the former officers alleged that authorities under FRA have exploited ambiguity and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. “Gram sabha meetings are conducted repeatedly mainly to give patta/titles to ineligible claimants and regularize encroachments made after 13.12.2005. Surprisingly after 16 years of the Act, in some states ineligible claims extending over lakhs of acres of forest lands are being admitted in violation of FRA and Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and primarily on the strength of evidence of village elders while discarding satellite imageries and other public documents listed under Rule 13(1). This is causing gross injustice to the eligible tribals and forest dwellers and is damaging their future for all times to come since a huge number of ineligible but powerful people will continue using the resources meant for the genuine beneficiaries under the Act,” they stated in the letter.
State of Forest Report 2021 by Forest Survey of India has reported that there is a loss of 10,594 sq. km bamboo bearing area in the country between 2019 and 2021. “Additionally, in clear violation of sections 3(1)(i) and 4(3) of the Act, management rights are being granted to ineligible communities in all kinds of forest lands and even inside Tiger Reserve areas; some glaring examples being in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka,” the letter said.
They also mentioned that the illegal recognitions are akin to sponsoring encroachment of forest with the backing of powerful people. “In the process, the forests which are not only a source of their livelihoods but also provide life sustaining eco-services to one and all, are getting wiped out. We request you to kindly take immediate cognizance of this extremely serious matter and kindly issue appropriate instructions to all concerned to ensure that FRA is implemented strictly, illegally granted rights are cancelled, and forest rights are vested only in the Forest Dwellers Scheduled Tribes and Other than Forest Dwellers and their communities and not in encroachers,” the retired officers requested.
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