Srinagar, March 27 -- The Jammu and Kashmir government has rejected over 39,000 claims for land ownership under the Forest Rights Act but has distributed over 65,000 kanals of forest land to over 6,020 scheduled tribe (ST) families, including Gujjars, Bakerwals and other forest dwellers.
A total of 46,090 claims were submitted by Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFDs) under Individual Forest Rights (IFR) and Community Forest Rights (CFR), senior officials from the Forest department said.
"Of these, 39,906 claims were rejected due to applicants' inability to provide requisite evidence and documents, while 126 claims are still pending," an official said.
The majority of the rejections-35,924 claims-occurred at ...