Various tribal organisations of Attappady organised a dharna in front of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) office at Agali on Wednesday demanding the implementation of various tribal development schemes though organisations formed under the Attappady Hill Area Development Society (AHADS).
Mooppan (tribal chief) Council president Kali Mooppan inaugurated the dharna.
The protestors demanded that the special agriculture package for tribal people be implemented though organisations such as Ooru Vikasana Samithi, Thaikula Sangom, Mooppan Council, and other people's committees, created under AHADS, instead of through the grama panchayat. Such organisations with adequate representation of tribal people had helped them avail of various benefits.
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They said that though AHADS project would be wound up in Attappady on December 31, 2011, the organisations under it should be retained so that tribal welfare programmes, including those under the Tribal Sub Plan, special agriculture package, housing schemes and so on were implemented through them.
U.C. Kunchan, Chairman, Girijan Sevak Samithi; Bhagavathy, leader, Thaikula Sangom (tribal women's organisation); Suresh, member, Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra Executive Committee; Rangan, Ooru Vikasana Samithi representative from Anavai Ooru; Sundaram, Joint Forest Management Committee representative, and Kalimuthu, among others, spoke.