More than 20 families of Kadar tribe, who were evicted from their traditional dwellings at Kallar settlement inside the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in August 2019, continue to struggle to get an alternative land in the forest which they are entitled to get under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
With their demand unmet for over two years, around 100 tribals started a protest at Thaimudi near Valparai on Gandhi Jayanti, Saturday.
Holding a portrait of Gandhiji, they marched to the protest venue from an abandoned estate quarters at Thaimudi where they are staying since August, 2019.
Around 90 members of Kadar tribe were evicted from Kallar settlement in ATR on August 20, 2019. Most of their traditional dwellings in the settlement were razed in a landslip after which they erected temporary shelters at a nearby location. The Forest Department removed the shelters with the support of the police and Revenue officials. A total of 23 families were shifted to an unused quarters of a tea estate at Thaimudi near Valparai where they have been since then.
Following the eviction, the tribal community sought for an alternative location namely Theppakulamedu where they wanted to have patta issued for homestead under the FRA. They also passed a resolution in a gram sabha held on March 6, 2020.
However, authorities of the ATR informed them that the application for homestead patta at Theppakulamedu could not be processed as it falls under ‘critical tiger habitat’.
Pollachi Sub-Collector Thakare Shubham Dnyandeorao and M.G. Ganesan, Deputy Director of the ATR, Pollachi division, held talks with the protestors. They asked them to withdraw the protest.
Rajalakshmi Jayapal, a tribeswoman, said the protest will continue till Monday. “Authorities seek more time to process our requests, which is genuine. But we have been staying away from our homeland since August 2019,” she said.
Officials with the Forest and Revenue Departments claimed that there were technical issues in granting homestead patta for the tribals at Theppakulamedu.
Last year, 130 people from Kallar and Udumanparai settlements staged the peaceful protest on the Independence Day pressing same demands.
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