Preparation to make 10 Tongia forest villages of Uttarakhand as revenue villages, committees will be formed, know what are Tongia villages?

Preparations have started to convert 10 out of 11 Tongia forest villages into revenue villages. The Revenue Department has been designated as the Administrative Department for making the proposal. District Magistrates of Dehradun, Nainital and Haridwar have been instructed to make proposals. Village level, block level and district level committees will be formed to carry out this entire process. Proposals will be prepared and sent to the government within three to four months. After brainstorming on these proposals, the government will send them to the central government for approval. Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu had taken a meeting in this regard recently. He instructed to make proposals as per the process adopted in Uttar Pradesh. Secretary Revenue Sachin Kurve has released the minutes of the decisions taken in the meeting.

Thousands of families have lived in Tongia Forest Villages for generations

Thousands of families have lived in Tongia forest villages around the state’s forest areas for generations. Due to the Forest Conservation Act, basic facilities are not available in these villages. People living in Tongia villages have to face huge difficulties for the facilities of electricity, water, education, roads etc. For decades they have been demanding the status of revenue villages.

Tongia village meeting the standard of revenue village

Dehradun District: Satti Wala, Dalipnagar, Balkunwari and Chandi
Haridwar: Haripur, Purushottamnagar, Kamlanagar
Nainital: Leti, Chopra and Rampur
Note- Bagga-54 Tongia village was not found suitable as it did not meet the criteria

Committees will be formed

All the three District Magistrates have been warned that they will constitute Village Level Forest Rights, Block Level Committee and District Level Committee under the Forest Rights Act-2006, Government of India Notification 2008, Revised Notification 2012, and the guidelines of the Central Government. The proposal will have to be prepared and presented to the block level committee within two months. The Divisional Forest Officer and Social Welfare Officer will do necessary monitoring of the committees. The District Magistrate will do complete supervision. The proposal will have to be submitted to the district level committee within a month. The District Level Forest Rights Committee will prepare a proposal within a month and send it to the Revenue Council.

What are Tongia Villages

The Tongias are the villages of laborers who were brought to the Himalayan region in the 1930s to plant saplings in the forests. Before independence, these laborers had access to many facilities in the villages located in the forests. After the Forest Conservation Act was enacted around 1980, their rights ended and these villages were also surrounded by protected forests.

All the information and necessary information regarding Tongia forest villages has been given to the District Magistrates by the Forest Department. Revenue Department has been made Administrative Department. Now the process will proceed at that level.

– RK Sudhanshu, Principal Secretary, Forest