“We are ready to vacate the place. Provide us alternative site” was the vociferous demand of the people of all ages who were displaced after their dwellings in Virpapur Gadda (island) on the Tungabhadra in Gangavati taluk were razed to ground by the Forest Department recently.
“Where should we go? The only place we had was demolished by the officials, forcing us to spend the day and night in the open, braving the scorching sun throughout the day and heavy rain during the night, that too, with children”, Dharmamma sought to know while narrating her plight to The Hindu .
Similar is the plight of almost all other dwellers (around 80 families). For the past five days they are virtually living among debris with no place to cook and to sleep.
This correspondent, during his visit to the island, saw that the entire area was deserted. There was debris all over the area which was agog with human activity till recently. Cooking utensils and other household items were amidst the debris. Except for a few mothers swinging the ‘joligi’ (traditional cradle using a sari tied to a branch of a tree) to make their children fall asleep, all the people in the area had left to participate in an agitation demanding alternative sites.
“We have been residing here in the Janata houses for over four decades and all of a sudden we have been evicted. We will go only if an alternative site is provided to us. But the response from the authorities has been disappointing. To mount pressure on the authorities concerned and also to get their demand met, our people have been staging an agitation”, says Anusha.
Recently the Forest Department launched a drive to clear encroachments on about 20 to 30 acres of forest land in survey number 49 on the island. Around 80 dwellings, said to have come up illegally on encroached forest land, with extensions such as cottage/rooms, and restaurantswere razed to ground. The authorities had also asked the people to vacate the place with their belongings.
