The Madhya Pradesh Government has hailed the Central Government's decision to enable the settlement of tribal families on forest land and the move to decentralize the process for giving clearance to proposals for non-forest use of forest land. The Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, and the Minister for Forests, Dhal Singh Bisen, have thanked the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for the Central Government's decision, which would now pave the way for settlement of the tribal families that had encroached upon forest land till 1993. The Chief Minister has termed as "revolutionary'' the Central Government's decision under which an empowered regional committee of the Central Government would decide within 45 days on the proposals involving up to 40 hectare of land for non-forest use, barring cases involving mining and encroachments.