Two days after saying that he “does not trust the Manmohan Singh government”, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has shot off a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to urgently notify the Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights ) Bill, 2006.
The Bill, which was passed in both the Houses of Parliament during the last winter session, is awaiting government notification.
The CPI(M) had used all its efforts to bring the Bill in its present form, despite the protests from a section of the Congress leadership.
“The Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament in December 2006. The committee for drafting rules was formed in March 2007 and submitted the Draft Rules in May 2007.
These were put up on the website for public comment on June 19, 2007. The last date decided by the forest ministry was July 31, 2007.
It was expected that the rules would be finalised and the Act notified. However, more than six weeks later this has not been done,” Karat said in the letter.
The CPI(M) general secretary said the announcement of the Act without its notification has led to a “serious situation” for tribals in many areas. “Forest officials who have been responsible for denial of tribal rights have taken advantage of the delay between the Act and its notification to evict tribals from many areas. Land cultivated by tribals for decades is being dug up for plantations by the forest department in some states in an obvious attempt to pre-empt the recognition of the tribal rights on that land. At the same time there are reports of connivance between land mafia and officials to take illegal possession of land. This is a most untenable situation,” Karat said.
Terming the delay as “inexplicable,” he requested the PM to urgently intervene on the issue “so as to ensure that an important achievement of the UPA government is not weakened or even subverted by the non-notification of the Act.”