Following the recent scuffles between forest officials and nomads at Sonjawan forests of Jammu and Shopain forests of Kashmir, a survey with the timeline of three months has been launched in the Union Territory to provide nomads with smart cards containing each person’s details.
Official spokesman of the J&K government said that Rs 3 crore have been earmarked for this survey and it will cover all the nomadic population of Jammu and Kashmir along with underdeveloped tribal pockets.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir is very keen to do the survey within three months as many officers feel that there are fudged figures of tribal population in Jammu and Kashmir while as in reality the population was far less.
J&K’s Tribal Affairs Secretary Shahid Iqbal Choundary said that the survey will help to get the exact figures of this population so that the government can start different schemes with focus on health, education and better livelihood for them.
In recent past Gujjars and Bakerwalas along with other tribal communities of Jammu and Kashmir accused the UT administration that they are victimising them and evicting them from the forests.
Recently, many nomads were injured when forest officials tried to evict them from the forestland in Sonjawan and Shopain of Jammu and Kashmir.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has assured them that his administration is going to implement the Forest Rights Act of 2006 as soon as possible in order to avoid any such ugly incident in future.