The Chhattisgarh Government has distributed 3.53 lakh forest rights' titles ‘pattas’ to the forest dwellers, officials stated. Tribal and Scheduled Caste Development Department officials said that Chhattisgarh tops the list on distribution of land to forest-dwellers in the entire country.
The co-operative committees provide interest-free loans to the individual Forest Rights' title patta holders. The farmers are provided with fertilizer and seeds for agricultural purposes. Irrigation pumps are distributed to farmers under the Shakambari Scheme for vegetables' cultivation.
About 56 per cent forest region is managed by the Joint Forest Management Samitis. About 5,500 Forest-dwellers have been given Forest Rights titles' Pattas.
The Department officials said that the pattas have been distributed as per the Scheduled Castes and other Traditional Forest-Dwellers (Forest Rights pattas) Act.
The forest dwellers have been given the right to utilize forest land and forest produce in a balanced manner. The tribals and other residents of the forest had overcome the persistent poverty that plagues the inaccessible regions.
The Panchayat and Rural Development Department had spent Rs 41.77 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in 2014-15 and Rs 63.43 crore till 2015-16 for works like land development, Dabri construction, animals' sheds and toilets' construction.
The State Government with the financial assistance of the Central Government is rapidly transforming the lives of forest dwellers in the remote areas of the State.
The Chief Secretary presides over the Forest Rights' State-level Monitoring and Vigilance Samiti and there is a constant review of the developments at the forest villages-level. The officials said that all the 431 Forest villages have been changed to Revenue Villages. Demarcations for 7.32 lakh land pattas have already been completed.