State to synergise functioning of forest committees

The modalities of such an arrangement will be worked out later after discussions with the Forest Department officials,Patel added.

The Indian Express report had highlighted the issue of both these locally constituted committees perceiving their interests as conflicting in nature.

It had mentioned about 200 such incidents reported in the Devgadh Baria taluka of Dahod district,where the members of the Protection Committees had vehemently opposed the land claims submitted by the Rights Committees to the gram panchayat.

As already reported,the Rights Committees are the first stage of verification of land claims by the tribals or traditional forest dwellers. They are then screened and approved at the taluka and district levels.

Meanwhile,the Protection Committees are granted access to non-timber forest products and share in timber revenue by the Forest Department in return for protecting forests from fire,grazing and illegal harvesting as well as carrying out plantation works.