Tribal leaders urge Govt to include them in Forest Right committees
SAMBA, April 11: Block Development Council, Chairman, Bani Block, Babu Din along with over 100 supporters and a retired DySP has joined Apni Party in presence of Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari.
In a statement to the press, the BDC Chairman Babu Din along with supporters joined the Party during one day convention of Schedule Tribes at Sarore in Samba District. This convention was organized by the senior Schedule Tribe leader Saleem Choudhary.
Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari welcomed the BDC Chairman into the party, his supporters and retired DySP Shams Din of Rajpur Koller, Samba District. The joining of BDC Chairman Bani was facilitated by Apni Party leader Choudhary Yasir Ali.
During the convention, tribal leaders highlighted various issues following which Party President Altaf Bukhari assured them that their issues will be conveyed to the concerned authorities for early redressal.
Bukhari expressed concern over underdevelopment and poor infrastructure in Sarore and other parts of Jammu Region. “The underdevelopment has exposed the false claims about development in Jammu,” he had added.
Speaking on the occasion, Saleem Choudhary, senior ST leader, said that the tribal community is facing hardships due to the non-cooperative attitude of the authorities.
“The tribal localities are deprived of development and these localities even lack basic amenities like proper clean drinking water, electricity and road connectivity,” he said and alleged that tribal leaders are not being included as members in the Forest Right Committees.
He said that it is injustice with the community which remained neglected for years and now, when the Forest Right Act is being implemented and claims are being received, their members are not being made members neglected like previous Govts.
“The landless nomads have constitutional rights to get claims on the rights, but the way concerned authorities are trying their best efforts to deprive them again is unfortunate. The Forest Rights Act has provided them a constitutional opportunity to get claims on the land they have held since decades. But some elements create problems,” he added.
After joining the party, the BDC Chairman, Bani Block, Babu Din said that the authorities have allegedly adopted a partial attitude towards the tribal community with regard to the Forest Rights Committees.
“There are complaints that tribal leaders are not being made the members in the Forest Rights Committees and question the administration for negligence,” Babu Din alleged. He demanded that tribal leaders should be made the members in the FRCs.
On this occasion, Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir, Vice President Aijaz Ahmed Khan, Vice President Choudhry Zulfikar Ali, Provincial President Jammu Manjit Singh, Ex-MLA Rajouri Choudhary Qamar Ali, District President, Samba, Raman Thappa, Ex-MLA Chenani and District President Udhampur, Faqir Nath, District President Rural-B, Pushp Dev Kumar Uppal, OBC State Coordinator Madan Lal Chalotra, SC State Coordinator Bodh Raj Bhagat, J&K Trade Union President Ajaz Kazmi, Provincial Secretary Dr Rohit Gupta, Vice President, Youth Wing, J&K, Raqeeq Ahmed Khan, senior leaders Rupali Rani, Farooq Ahmed, Ashraf Choudhary, Sohail Khajuria, ST leaders Danish Iqbal, and Shabir Kohli and others were also present.
