More than 80 families belonging to the indigenous Irular tribe have occupied what they claim to be their ancestral land in Vazhaithottam in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
The community, over the last five days, has taken over 11 acres which belong to the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited (Aavin). Aavin used to run a farm producing fodder for cattle there. The community here claims that the land had been taken from them by Aavin in 1982, after they were promised jobs and cattle. However, they claim that neither the milk co-operative nor the district administration offered them any assistance in the intervening decades.
A. Nanjundan, village headman of the Irular community in Vazhaithottam, which the tribals used to call Hosur till a few decades ago, said that the number of Irular families have increased over the last few decades, and that there are 3-4 families living in a single spartan house. “We have been demanding that the government give us house pattas and land; but there has been nothing so far, so we want our land back,” he said.
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The community has put up more than 15 tents with plastic sheet roofs over the last few days, with women and children also camping at the site. B. Murugan, another resident, said that the locals fear that the land could be handed over to private parties, and added that there was very little response from the district administration to the plight of the tribals.
“We had threatened that we would leave the village unless we were given housing pattas. But we have decided to fight to regain our own land as we feel that only then can our culture and traditions be protected,” said N. Nanjan.
He added that there had been an influx of people from the neighbouring Karnataka, leading to disputes over land and resources. And, there are also issues over implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
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On Tuesday, some residents met District Collector P. Sankar. Revenue officials said that they had held talks with them and had convinced them to leave.
However, N. Karthik, who was part of the group that held parleys with the district administration, said that any decision to leave the site would be taken only after holding consultations with the other residents.