Summary:
Nagpur: In utter disregard of state information commission (SIC), a statutory agency, forest department has failed to supply information on area encroached under Forest Rights Act ( FRA ), 2006. While there are negligible cases under CFRs, which pertains to extraction of forest produce by communities, FRA encroachments in individual category are very high.Under FRA the individual titles for forest land that have been rejected are considered encroachments and should be cleared by forest officials. It seems forest officials are deliberately not giving information as no action might have been taken against encroachers,” said Prabhune.FRA has two components — individual forest rights (IFRs) and community forest rights (CFRs). Shockingly, even after a year the department, which is custodian of forest land, and tribal commissioner in Nashik, who is the nodal officer for FRA, failed to supply details on area under encroachments and that freed from it.Both the departments are passing the buck. The activist, who sought this information, feels that this is to hide the failure of the department to free forest land from encroachments.SIC after hearing the second appeal filed by RTI activist Avinash Prabhune had passed orders directing the department to supply relevant information to the applicant..