Collector promises to try to settle pending forest rights claims within four months at Brahmapuri camp

A special camp for forest rights holders and encroachers was held at the late Rajiv Gandhi auditorium in Brahmapuri. It was meant for forest rights, revenue and encroachment cases from Brahmapuri, Sindewahi, Chimur and Saoli tehsils. Thousands of beneficiaries from the four tehsils turned up in large numbers.

The camp gave information on pending claims, claims rejected earlier, removing deficiencies in claims, filing appeals and submitting new claims. Officials of the departments concerned were also directed to help people in all these matters.

On the dais were Collector Vasumana Pant, sub-divisional officer Parvani Patil, deputy conservators of forests Kumar Swamy and Rajan Talmale, Youth Congress state general secretary Shivani Wadettiwar and assistant deputy conservator of forests Arvind J. Brahmapuri tehsildar Satish Masal, Saoli tehsildar Pranjali Chirde and Sindewahi tehsildar Vijaya Jhade were also present. Also on the dais were tehsil Congress committee president Khemraj Tidke, Shindewadi tehsil Congress president Ramakant Lodhe, municipal council vice-president Dr Nitin Urade, market committee chairman Prabhakar Selokar, Gautam Nitanware and Praveen Mote.

Collector Vasumana Pant said the administration would make efforts to dispose of many pending claims over the next four months. She also made it clear that claims of eligible beneficiaries would be examined on priority and the necessary action would be taken to secure them justice. This has raised hopes of major relief for people who have struggled for years to get title deeds to their land.

Congress Legislature Party leader and MLA Vijay Wadettiwar said many families in rural and tribal areas have lived for generations by farming the land. According to him, claims of many eligible beneficiaries are pending, and some have been rejected, because of administrative lapses, lack of documents and procedural hurdles. He said getting justice for such people was his responsibility.

Wadettiwar said the administration should not treat the matter as a mere paperwork exercise but look at it from a human angle. Every necessary help would be given to get eligible beneficiaries the title deeds they are entitled to. He expressed confidence that 2027 would prove important for resolving the problems of forest rights holders and encroachers. He also assured that he would keep working in 2027 for their complete resolution and would continue to press the administration so that no eligible beneficiary is denied their right.

Youth Congress state general secretary Shivani Wadettiwar also took a firm stand on the issue. She said the rejection of someone's forest rights or land claim is not merely turning down a piece of paper. It is like reducing to ashes the hopes, dreams and future that a family has nurtured for years. The entire lives of many families rest on this land, so eligible beneficiaries should not be kept from their rights only because of gaps in documents, she said.

Shivani Wadettiwar demanded that rejected claims be re-examined and that the administration give special help in collecting the required documents and in the appeal process. She assured that the fight would continue until the last eligible beneficiary got justice.