Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan has said that title deeds for all applicants in the State would be issued before the end of tenure of the LDF government.
Speaking after inaugurating a district level pattaya mela here on Tuesday, Mr. Chandrasekharan said that the government would ensure land for all landless tribespeople.
A piece of land for living was not the munificence of anybody but the right of a citizen in a democratic set-up. The inordinate delay by the Forest Department in marking the boundary of the land that was allotted to tribespeople was the major reason for the failure to ensure land to all landless tribal families, he said.
The Forest Department should ensure that the land identified for tribal families was habitable, Mr. Chandrasekharan said. Land deeds were provided to 1,40,000 families in the State in 38 months. When the pattaya melas were completed in five more districts, the number of families would cross 1,50,000, he said.
A.K. Balan, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes, who delivered the presidential address, said that coordinated intervention of the district administration, Forest and Tribal departments was needed to solve land-related issues of the tribal families. As many as 8,051 such families in the district were landless, Mr. Balan said.
He directed the Tribal department officials to adopt steps to provide land to all tribal families in the district in two months.
Mr. Chandrasekharan handed over pattayams (land deeds ) to 500 families belonging to the general category and 496 tribal families.
Possession certificates were issued to 15 tribal families under the Forest Rights Act on the occasion.
