Monday, Nov 11, 2002
Monday, Nov 11, 2002 |
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Kerala
By Our Staff Reporter
The Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, said here today the Government would evict all the Adivasis who had occupied the 120-odd acre Neelaimala under the control of the Forest Department. Stating that the illegal occupation of the forestland was apparently an effort to make use of the Adivasi cause for political gains, he said that land would be assigned to all the landless Adivasis in the State as per norms in a phased manner. The Minister, however, was understood to have advised the officials against taking any hurried action that would precipitate the situation as the Adivasi activists carrying sticks and sickles and other arms were reportedly keeping strict vigil against any effort to oust them from the forestland. Efforts by Forest officials to end the impasse through talks with the Adivasis could not be followed up as the AVM leaders had not positively responded to proposal for talks. It was on November 6 that the 60-odd Adivasis families led by the AVM chairman, Aruvikkal Krishnan, entered into the Neelaimala land and declared its `occupation' for distribution among the Adivasis families. The forest officials, who had been taken aback by this surprise move, and police had not initiated any action to evict them on the ground that such an action might end up in a violent encounter. The AVM action came at a time when the Adivasi-Dalit Action Committee (ADAC), led by C.K. Janu, was mobilising the Adivasis for a stir demanding transfer of the Aralam Farm land for assignment among the landless Adivasis. Though the DFO, K.K. Chandran, and the Forest Range Officer, C.V. Rajan, had held talks with Mr. Krishnan inside the area encroached by the AVM activists yesterday, they refused to move out of the land saying that they had lost faith in Government's assurances. The AVM activists also remained unresponsive to the DFO's proposal to arrange for them a meeting with the Forest Minister at the Guest House here today. It was conveyed by the AVM activists that there was no need of holding talks with the Minister on the land issue, as the land they had been occupying originally belonged to them. To assert the right of the Adivasis on the forestland, the AVM activists today announced that the 120-acre land was divided among 61 Adivasis families that `occupied' the land. All the families had erected sheds and started cultivation on the plots assigned to them since yesterday to re-affirm their claim on the land, they said. The AVM activists were arguing that the Neelaimala land was taken over by the Government in 1971 as excess land to be assigned among the landless agricultural workers and that the it had been under cashew cultivation for decades. Meanwhile, the ADAC described the AVM's occupation of the forestland as a `drama' to divert the public's attention from the agitation led by Ms. Janu for asserting the Adivasis' right to their land. The ADAC convener, Sreeraman Koyyon, alleged that the `Chathirur land occupation drama' was staged as part of a conspiracy involving political leadership, trade union leaders and officials who had been working overtime to scuttle the preparation for the agitation to demand assignment of the Aralam Farm land among the Adivasis.
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