Ranchi, Nov. 17: The fear of abuse of the forest rights legislation was evident at a rally held today in the state capital.

The participants complained that the state government was not only slow in the implementation of the act, but it was also avoiding the participation of the villagers in the process, as prescribed by the legislation.

“The officials should take into account the opinion of the villagers in formulating the list of beneficiaries of the forest Act. This is not happening. People fear that genuine candidates would be left out and fake people would become beneficiaries of this Act,” said Sanjay Basu Mullick, convener of Jharkhand Jangal Bachao Andolan (JJBA), the organisers of the rally.

Thousands of tribals and traditional forest dwellers came from various parts of the state to voice their concern over the implementation of the Act. Forest right activists from others states also joined the rally.

Jharkhand is the only state in the country, which is yet to implement the forest Act. Absence of panchayat bodies, which were necessary for the implementation of the Act, made the state government wait for legal clearance. However, recently the Union law ministry cleared the hurdle saying that in the absence of elected panchayat bodies the traditional tribal organisations would be taken as gram sabhas. The state government then decided to implement the act from October.

The former Ranchi University vice-chancellor Ram Dayal Munda also participated in the demonstration.

Chief minister Shibu Soren and welfare minister Joba Manjhi had promised the villagers to join today’s rally and hear their complaints. But none of them turned up.

Meanwhile, Tribal welfare commissioner Sunil Kumar Barnwal, also the nodal officer appointed by the government to implement the Act, said: “We have started the implementation of the Act in the right spirit. Village level forest committees are being formed. After this, the claim forms would be distributed among the villagers.”