Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh): In a major step to uplift the Bharia tribal community, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has empowered the Bharia tribal community by according them Habitat Rights, Bharia tribal community living in an area of 80 square kilometres of land in 12 villages in Patalkot area of Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh have become the owners of the forest region.
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After Habitat Rights came into effect, the scheduled tribe Bharia people are now the proud owners of the land, water and forest resources spread over 9276 hectares. The 12 villages are situated in Tamia tehsil in the Patalkot area of Chhindwara where they are staying for the past several centuries. Under the new law, suppose the Madhya Pradesh government wants to carry out any construction work in the Patalkot area, then they will have to seek permission from the Bharia tribes.
Of the 9276 hectares of land in Patalkot, 8,326 hectares of land come under forest and 950 hectares is revenue land. Earlier, all the Gram Panchayats located in Patalkot as well as the Forest Department had given up claims on the land. Now, these Bharia tribes under the Habitat Rights have been empowered to extract forest resources as well as preserve flora and fauna of the jungles.
Dr Deepak Acharya, who has been doing research work on medicinal plants and herbs found in the forest as well as Bharia tribal community in the Patalkot region for almost 25 years, said, "After the granting of Habitat rights to these tribal communities it will help them in their uplift in a big way. Now they cannot be displaced from the area without their consent."