Govt works towards regularizing Taungya settlements in forest reserves

GANGTOK, 16 April: At long last the State government has taken up the case of Taungyadars [forest plantation labourers] in the state and explore the possibilities of regularization of their land-holdings in forest reserves. There are numerous reserve forest areas in the state which have been settled down the years by individuals, however, for the purpose of regularization, the State government is only examining those cases and encroachments which took place before the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
Taungyadars had been engaged by the Forest Department to carry out plantation works in the reserve forests during the pre-Merger [pre-1975] times, much before the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 were extended to Sikkim.
The Taungyadars were settled inside the reserve forest areas and are now seen as encroachers as per the new rules in place. Now, the Forest Department has decided to invoke the guidelines under the Forest Conservation Act which provide for the regularization of the forest land occupied by the Taungyadars after fulfillment of certain conditions. For this purpose, committees have been set up in each district to examine and recommend the cases of the Taungyadars and other encroachers of Forest Land who have been staying continuously in the forest lands prior to the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The committees consist of the DFO (Territorial) of the respective districts, Social Welfare Officer and the SDM.
For the purpose of examination of the cases of the Taungyadars and encroachers the committees will conduct joint inspections of the forest land occupied by them. Before seeking alternatives in terms of relocation, the committees will first ascertain and make sure that the occupants or the Taungya or encroachers of the forest land were settled prior to the date of the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 which is 25 October, 1980. In the event that the Taungya or encroacher village is located in the middle of the reserve forest, the possibility of re-location of the village to the periphery of the forest area is to be explored as well.
Joint surveys are also to be conducted on forest lands to ascertain which of the lands were encroached by individuals within the district other than the Taungyadars prior to the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and following this a proposal for their regularization is to be submitted.
On completion of the inspections and the cases a complete proposal is to be put up to the Secretary, Forest Department for examination and further action.