Alienated in their own land

Despite many assurances and several government orders in his favour, restoration of over nine acres and 10 cents of agricultural land inherited by 71-year-old Kalimooppan from his father continues to remain a mirage.

The village elder of the Bhoothivazhi hamlet of Irula tribespeople here, he and his two brothers have been fighting for the alienated land over the past three decades. An upper-caste neighbour had usurped their land flouting all laws.

It was during November last that

The Hindu carried a report on the plight of Kalimooppan, who lost his wife and son in the long years of single-minded pursuit for the restoration of his alienated land. After going through the report, Scheduled Tribes Minister P.K. Jayalakshmi directed the then Palakkad District Collector to immediately restore the land.

However, revenue authorities in the district are delaying the process saying that Attappady has many such cases to act upon and that requires time.

In mid-April, Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson directed Palakkad District Collector Marykutty Isaac to speed up the process of providing land to tribespeople who have lost their land at Attappady. The directive followed a high-level meeting convened by the Chief Secretary in Palakkad to discuss issues concerning tribal community in Attappady. Many officials and social workers who attended the meeting said that the root cause of the poor health status of Attappady tribespeople and recent infant deaths was the land issue.

No follow-up action

The Collector, who addressed a press meet on Friday to elaborate on the mass contact programme of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, said no follow-up action was initiated so far on the land issue.

As the authorities were giving a low priority to the issue, it is unlikely to be highlighted at the mass contact programme.

According to the district administration, land restoration drive in the region requires 25,000 acres of land. About 600 acres could be taken over from the Vattilakki estate of the Forest Department. The rest have to be sourced from other government lands. The government plan was to provide each landless tribal family in Attappady with two acres of cultivable land. Tribal organisations are now demanding implementation of a Government Order issued on October 10, 2008, to identify and distribute land.

It was after 30 infant deaths reported in Attappady that Mr. Chandy visited the region along with Jairam Ramesh, the then Union Rural Development Minister, and promised that his government would be giving cultivable land to each landless tribal family in Attappady.

“Instead of giving cultivable land, the State government has been cheating the tribes with false promises and title deeds,” K.A. Ramu, convener of Thampu, an organisation working for the development of tribespeople, said.

Alienated in their own land

Owning a piece of land remains a distant dream for tribespeople of Attappady