The State Government has rejected over as many as 1.45 lakh individual and community claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 till December last year. The State Government has informed the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs that 1,45,225 individual claims, 228 community claims and 13 community forest right claims have been rejected under the Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act), 2006.
The claims were rejected following the implementation of the Act in the State till December 31, 2014. A recent letter of the SC/ST Development Department to the Centre said, “While 6,09,334 claims have been filed at the gram sabhas, only 4,84,157 claims have been recommended to the sub-division level committees, of which 3,66,985 claims have been approved by the district level committees.”
An official of the department, however, said Odisha is performing better than other States in terms of implementation of the Act. At the same time, he said that there are some problems in implementing the Act as some forestlands in the State are un-surveyed.