Gadchiroli, April 28: Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh, along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, today launched a programme giving tribals right to harvest bamboo as a forest produce in a tribal village here.
Ramesh and Chavan handed over transit passes to tribals of Lekha Mendha village thus according them the right of harvesting and managing bamboo as a forest produce.
The Lekha Mendha Gram Sabha in Dhanora tehsil of the Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district thus became the first in the country to have such a right.
Terming the initiative revolutionary, Ramesh said it will bring about a change in the life of tribals and other forest dwellers.
Forest and the tribals cannot live separately. They are interdependent and this relation needs to be strengthened. The 1927 Forest Act is not supportive to the people and some of its provisions need to be changed as they cannot protect the forests, he said.
As many as 25 crore people of the country depend upon forests and their interests cannot be ignored. Unless the tribals are given their rights over forests, it cannot be protected, Ramesh said.
The Minister also stressed on the need to give the villagers more community rights under the Forest Rights Act.
———PTI