JAMMU, Aug. 2 -- The forest and tribal affairs minister Javed Ahmed Rana, on Saturday, strongly insisted upon enforcement of Forest Rights Act and made it clear that no fresh encroachment on forest land will be allowed at any cost. "The NC government under chief minister Omar Abdullah has taken a major decision to implement the Forests Rights Act in its true letter and spirit across the Union Territory," he told mediapersons here. He also informed that the NC government has ordered inquiries into alleged excesses against tribal communities and that action will be taken wherever illegalities were established. It may be stated here that the J&K government has directed all the deputy magistrates of 20 districts to speed up the process of receiving, verifying and settling claims under the FRA through statutory three-tier mechanism for timely implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The directions have been issued to safeguard the legal rights of eligible forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers. Rana informed that though FRA was extended to Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, it was not being implemented in letter and spirit and as a result several eligible beneficiaries were left out. htc...