The tribes in Gudarur held a demonstration at the collector’s office in Udarmandam on Monday. |Picture source: M. Sathyamoorthy
Tribal residents relocated from Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) held a protest in front of the district collector’s office on Monday, demanding a list of 17 requirements.
Residents are part of the government’s efforts to move them out of the tiger reserve, claiming they were deceived by forest department staff, lawyers and land brokers during the relocation process.
K. Mahendran of the Tamil Nadu Tribal People’s Association said a total of 574 families were divided into multiple stage tiger reserves, with 108 of them still living in the reserve and refusing to move out. He said that although the Madras High Court directed the government in 2007 to ensure that people were moved out within a year, the forest sector only started the process seriously in 2016.
Activists claim that the government has not followed the Wildlife Protection Act, the Forest Rights Act and the right to fair compensation and transparency provided in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act while relocating tribal families.
They called on the government to speed up lawsuits against forest sector staff, lawyers and land brokers who have booked under the Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe (SC/ST) Atrocities Prevention Act, which has been in the case since 2019. These cases have been since 2019.
They also hope that the government will help them bring documents to the land that the defendants sold to them in the case. Their other demand is to stop the relocation of tribal villages in the reserve, provide compensation to residents who are now 18 years old, and increase the compensation to Rs 1 million promised in 2008 to increase the compensation to Rs 2.5 million.
publishing – April 28, 2025 at 5:28 pm IST
