87 per cent claims rejected under Forest Rights Act in J&K: Govt

Jammu, Feb 13: Jammu & Kashmir Government on Friday revealed that it has rejected 87 percent of claims under the Forest Rights Act-2006.
In response to a cut motion moved by Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone, Minister in-charge, Forests, Environment and Climate Change, Javed Ahmad Rana disclosed that 6097 claims (13.26%) have been accepted, while 39898 claims (86.7%) have been rejected.
According to the details, Jammu recorded 44 claims accepted with none rejected. Kathua saw 42 accepted but a staggering 1518 rejected, while Doda reported 51 accepted against 1744 rejected. Ramban and Reasi also showed high rejection numbers, with 1276 and 576 respectively, compared to just 10 and 2 accepted.
Kishtwar fared better, with 273 accepted and 582 rejected. Rajouri and Poonch emerged as the districts with the highest number of accepted claims -2852 and 2,054 respectively- though both also recorded thousands of rejections (13590 in Rajouri and 2,956 in Poonch). In Samba, five claims were accepted while 72 were rejected, and in Udhampur district 14 were accepted against 30 rejected.
Budgam reported 181 claims accepted against 3884 rejected, while Bandipora had 50 accepted and 169 rejected. Ganderbal saw only 5 approvals compared to 500 rejections, and Kupwara recorded 15 accepted against a massive 5903 rejected. Baramulla reported just 2 accepted claims against 742 rejected. Anantnag and Shopian fared relatively better, with 246 and 223 approvals respectively, though both still faced thousands of rejections. Kulgam registered seven accepted claims against 1398 rejected. In Pulwama district, 21 claims were accepted while 3022 were rejected.
In Srinagar, neither any claim was accepted nor rejected.
Enacted in 2006, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) recognizes the rights of forest-dwelling communities over land and resources they have traditionally used. (KNO)