The alleged flaws in the classification of buffer zones by including huge swathes of agricultural land around the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary have triggered widespread protest among farmers in 13 villages in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.
An indefinite stir is likely to be launched soon under a new action committee formed by farmers’ organisations under the Kozhikode-based Karshaka Raksha Samiti.
To begin with, farmers will take out a rally on September 28 seeking the withdrawal of the latest notification on buffer zones. With the objective of mobilising public support for the cause, the march will cover all the 13 affected villages. It will conclude at Adivaram on September 29. Farmers from Wayanad too will join the rally.
Meanwhile, the committee will ensure mass participation by youth in the rally and subsequent agitations. Besides, religious and political leaders will address protesters.
According to the committee, life of rural farmers will turn miserable with the “unscientific delineation” of buffer zones. In the Malabar region, it will mainly affect farmers at Chembanoda, Chakkittappara, Changaroth, Perambra, Koorachundu, Kanthalad, Puthuppadi, Kedavoor, Kattippara, Thariyod, Pozhuthana, Achooranam and Kunnathinadu villages, it claimed.
Baby Perumalil, a leader of the committee, said any expansion of the buffer zones by grabbing farmers’ land would be opposed through united protests. “If implemented, the new buffer zone regulations will send out thousands of underprivileged farmers from their own land. Many of them are already facing wild animal attacks, fall in prices of agricultural produce, and loan burdens,” he argued.
Committee leaders claimed that the conservation of the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary could be ensured by scientifically marking the existing boundary of the forest land. Instead, there is a deliberate attempt to capture farm lands and evacuate farmers, they complained.
According to them, the Revenue authorities are also working in favour of the Forest Department’s action plan. As part of suspicious attempts to convert farm land into forest land, even land tax is not being accepted from some landholders in Vilangad and Puthuppadi villages, they alleged.
