‘People won’t remain silent’: BJP MP Mansukh Vasava points fingers at officials

Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava, has alleged that forest officials and local administration are favouring new beneficiaries over tribal farmers who have cultivated forest lands for decades. (File Photo)

The planned distribution of 80,000 forest land ownership titles across the country on the 151st birth anniversary of tribal icon Bhagwan Birsa Munda on November 15 has reignited an old grievance of hundreds of tribal farmers in the Narmada and Bharuch districts whose applications for land rights remain pending.

On Wednesday, Mansukh Vasava, the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Bharuch, accused the forest department and local administration of favouring new beneficiaries over tribal farmers who have cultivated forest lands for decades. Vasava warned that the distribution of thousands of forest rights titles could leave long-standing claimants in Narmada and Bharuch districts out once again.

Barely two months ago, farmers from 12 villages in Narmada’s Sagbara taluka had led a prolonged agitation over their right to cultivate nearly 3,000 acres of forest land in neighbouring Umarpada taluka of Surat district.

The protest, which began on August 8 and continued for more than three weeks, had brought the issue of tribal land rights to the forefront. There have been repeated face offs between the farmers and the forest department even after the protest was called off on September 1.

More than 800 applications are pending in Narmada district, around 630 of which are from Sagbara taluka alone. Vasava has sharply criticised the delay in disposing of the cases, and questioned the functioning of the district administration and the forest department.

On Wednesday, the MP said sections of the administration were “creating divisions within tribal communities by favouring certain groups over others”, and warned that “the situation could deteriorate if the government failed to take serious note of the allegations (against officials)”.

“Tribal people of Bharuch and Narmada will not remain silent if they are denied the sanads (title deeds),” Vasava warned, and called again for the pending claims of the local farmers to be addressed.

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During the August agitation, almost 300 farmers had sat on a fast, claiming that the families that had been displaced by the Ukai Dam (Vallabh Sagar) project across the Tapi river had been allotted land in Umarpada, and had cultivated it for almost two decades.

However, they claimed, their access to the land was cut off following objections from local farmers and the forest department, which questioned their eligibility under the Forest Rights Act and the validity of their documents, which included a Gram Sabha resolution.

The protest was called off after a meeting at Haripura in Umarpada, which was attended by state ministers and Vasava. The state government assured the farmers that pending claims would be scrutinised by district-level committees and that all applicants found eligible under the Forest Rights Act would be issued titles after verification of supporting documents. However, the titles are yet to be cleared.