The controversy surrounding the eviction of nearly 577 tribal families from the Diddalli settlement in Devamachi Reserve Forests of Kodagu district continues with the authorities justifying their act, but progressive groups seeking their resettlement.
The issue has also put the government in a piquant situation as it has to balance the demand for their rehabilitation, with the argument of the Forest Department that encroachment of forests cannot be legalised.
It was on December 7 that hutments of the tribals were razed to the ground by authorities, forcing them to shift to open spaces near the Ashram School, which was functioning in the vicinity. The eviction drive left at least 1,500 people in the lurch. But the Forest Department has brushed aside criticism of human rights violations on the grounds that Devamachi was a notified reserved forest and hence they were legally bound to clear the encroachment.
S. Srikanth, a tribal activist, told The Hindu that he has proposed a rehabilitation plan on the lines of Tibetan settlements in Bylakuppe and Gurupura. “There is adequate land in Diddalli and if the government earmarks 4,000 acres of land, all the families can be resettled in different hamlets within the enclave instead of dispersing them to different places in the district as being proposed by the district administration,” said Mr. Srikanth.
But a senior forest official refuted that those who were evicted were tribes living there since generations. He said that originally, there were 40 to 60 families in Didahalli settlement and they have not been disturbed. But what has been cleared is the new encroachments that was noticed from July-August, he maintained.
“Most of these people are coffee estate workers from neighbouring taluks brainwashed into believing that they get 3 to 5 acres of land under the tribal rehabilitation plan. But the Forest Rights Act is clear that only encroachments up to 2005 can be regularised. Besides, only 24 per cent of the land in Kodagu is under notified forests and if this goes, so does the river Cauvery, which gets fed by this,” said the official ruling out any rehabilitation from the Forest Department.
Meanwhile, support for the tribals is pouring in from all quarters with NGOs, progressive organisations, and political parties taking up cudgels on their behalf and demanding that they be resettled. Freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy and activist and writer Gauri Lankesh have visited the spot as also members of the District Legal Services Authority.
