land sharks have set their eyes on the pattas to be given to tribals and other traditional dwellers on the forest land here in Palamu. A tribal living on a forest land before 2005 and eking out his living by minor forest produce is entitled to have pattas of land maximum of two acres of forest under the forest rights act.
Sources said there are big and powerful people here who are promoting the unsuspecting tribal in order to have pattas of forest land under their own control and command. Palamu had seen the activity of patta under forest rights act way back in the year 2009. Then DC Palamu Amitabh Kaushal had visited a forest land under Chainpur block only to talk to the dwellers there and his exercise had yielded good dividends then as forces out to grab forest land had then taken a retreat.
In the exercise of patta the role of the gram sabha is of utmost importance as in the gram sabha claims for patta of forest land is sought and the period of filing petition of claim is of 30 days itself. A patta of land under forest rights act is not for mutation at all. There can be no mutation of the patta of forest land as it comes under forest rights act and not under record of rights of land.