Pioneer News Service/Bhopal

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh has advocated the need of facilitating villagers and tribals in particular, who live in forest villages in order to ward off their present unrest. In this context, Mr Singh wants to create a nation-wide consensus.

A conference of Chief Ministers from all over the country has been convened for creating a consensus to amend the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), enacted during early 1980's, in order to safeguard the interests of villagers and tribals living in the forest areas.

Mr Singh, who has been raising voice for this cause, has decided to convene a conclave of his counterparts of those States, where forest cover is over 20 per cent of the total area. This includes Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal,Karnataka and States in the North East.

The meeting will be held in Bhopal on June 5, 2001. The decision got finalised when the Chief Minister returned from Mehandikhera village (Dewas district) of Madhya Pradesh, where the clashes between tribals and cops claimed four lives of the tribals, early this month.

It was officially stated in Bhopal that participants for the conference may include Union Ministers of Environment, Social Welfare, Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission and social workers like Anna Saheb Hazare and Sunderlal Bahuguna.