The Nilgiris district administration distributed title deeds to 493 tribal people on Tuesday, paving way to implement the Forest Rights Act of 2006.
At an event organised here, District Collector, Innocent Divya, said that the tribal people in Chembakolli, Chokkanalli, Ebbanad, Anaikatty, Siriyur, Kengarai, Burliyar, and Kallampalayam got the title deeds.
She added that shared spaces will be announced in due course. Ms. Divya said that she planned on visiting all the villages inhabited by indigenous communities to redress their grievances, if any. She asked them to start farm collectives which will help them get benefits from government schemes.
District Superintendent of Police, Murali Rambha, said that tribal people were demanding that they be given title deeds, for a long time. The police made efforts to reach out to the indigenous communities, even those living deep inside reserve forests, he said. K. Rajkumar, District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris South Division, asked tribal people to protect the forests.
M. Alwas, secretary of the Nilgiri Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA), said that this was the first time that tribal people in the district were being given title deeds, and that too in large numbers.
P. Chandran, additional coordinator at the Keystone Foundation, said that this was a great first step towards ensuring that the rights of tribal people in the district were acknowledged. He added that the pending claims too should be resolved.
Gudalur District Forest Officer, P.K. Dileep; District Revenue Officer, T Baskarapandi; and K.R. Arjunan, MP; too were present.
