The Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari today asked senior government officials to settle the pending claims of forest rights within 3 months and to conduct the GPS mapping of scheduled areas in the State.
The review meeting was held at Raj Bhavan to take stock of the problems of the tribal people in the Scheduled Areas of the state, especially the forest rights under the Housing and Forest Rights Act, secondary forestry and other livelihoods. The meeting was attended by senior government officers and representatives of various non-governmental organizations.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Manu Kumar Srivastava, Principal Secretary to the Governor Santosh Kumar, Tribal Secretary Vinita Ved, Deputy Secretary to the Governor Shweta Singhal, Palghar District Collector Kailash Shinde, Palghar District Forest Officer Milind Thatte (Nashik), Brian Lobo (Palghar) and Representatives of some NGOs from other districts of Maharashtra were present.