Finalise tribal land right by December 15

Bhubaneswar,Nov 1 (UNI) Orissa Chief Minsiter Naveen Patnaik today directed the officials to dispose of cases relating to rights of tribals on forest land by December 15.

Reviewing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2007 and 2008 at a meeting here today, the Chief Minister directed the officials of the Revenue, Forest, Panchayatiraj, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe departments to coordinate with each other and solve the land rights issue of tribals within the targetted period.

The meeting also discussed to accord the status of revenue villages to the tribals villages living in the forest areas before 1980.

Official sources said 2,897 tribal families out of the total 3,754 were staying in 191 habitations in 17 districts of the state before 1980.

As many as 17,727 families would be benefititted if these villages were accorded the status of revenue villages, sources said.

UNI BD KK PKC1931