Assam to denotify three proposed reserve forests to give land rights to 20,000 people

The three proposed reserve forests are Talpathar (170 hectares), Mohongpathar (466 hectares) and 1st Addition to Duarmarah (113 hectares).

Guwahati: The Assam government has decided to denotify three Proposed Reserve Forests (PRF) in Tinsukia district for enabling over 20,000 residents to get land rights, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

In a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Sarma, on Friday the state government approved transforming the PRF into revenue villages so that people living in the area can get land rights.

"There are three Proposed Reserve Forests in Tinsukia. We have decided to denotify and make them revenue villages. This will help the people living there to get land rights," he said at a late-night press conference.

The three PRFs are Talpathar (170 hectares), Mohongpathar (466 hectares) and 1st Addition to Duarmarah (113 hectares).

"There are over 20,000 people living in these villages and they were not getting any land rights due to restrictions of PRFs. That is why we decided to make these PRFs as revenue villages instead of making them Reserve Forests," Sarma said.

He termed the Cabinet approval as a "big decision" to give relief to the people in distress.

According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, Assam's forest cover has decreased by nearly 84 sq km between 2021 and 2023, with the total area under forest and tree cover in the state now at 30,415.01 sq km.