The land issue has come to dog the agency tracts of Adilabad district once again, threatening to disturb its peace, and could even result in pitting disadvantaged Adivasis against powerful non-tribals.
Relaxation in rules sought
The latter living in the tribal areas are demanding relaxation of the Andhra Pradesh State Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation 1959 and its subsequent Amendment 1 of 1970 (LTR) to the extent that it facilitates transfer of land and other immovable property between tribals and non-tribals.
The LTR, which guarantees safeguards to tribal properties, renders any such demand illegitimate, yet its tardy implementation has left much to be desired and dispossession of the Adivasis of their lands continues in some form or the other. A few thousands of acres of land belonging to Adivasis and at least 80,000 acres of government land are under illegal possession of non-tribals in the five agency mandals of Indervelli, Utnoor, Narnoor, Jainoor and Sirpur (U) in addition to over 20,000 units of immovable properties.
In order to protect the interests of Adivasis, the Nizam's government had in 1946 incorporated the 1917 British regulation on land transfer in agency areas.
This was subsequently converted into the LTR in 1959 and amended by an order of the Supreme Court in 1970 only to prohibit land transfer between tribals and non-tribals and rendering null and void all earlier transfers which had been done without permission of the district Collector, who is agent to the government.
The LTR Amendment 1 of 1970 also envisages restoration of lands to original tribal owners through the office of the Special Deputy Collector (SDC) looking after its implementation.
To date 8,394 cases of encroachment on tribal lands had been booked involving an extent of 54,421 acres of which 7,888 cases have been disposed of involving 53,034 acres.
"As many as 4,334 cases involving 28,500 acres of land were decided in favour of the Adivasis and nearly 23,900 acres of land was restored to 3,386 of them," said Utnoor Revenue Divisional Officer and SDC A. Ailaiah.
"There are 506 cases still pending trial," he said, quoting figures.
Unreported
The figures may not reveal the actual intensity of the problem as Adivasis continue to shy away from lodging cases against encroachers.
The population of the aboriginal tribes is about 3.5 lakh only but it is spread over three-fifths of the 16,000 sq km of the district's geographical area incorporating 412 notified villages in 32 of the 52 revenue mandals.
Having come in the back drop of the 75th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Gond leader Kumram Bheem on October 27, the demand of non-tribals has helped bring the land issue into sharp focus. Kumram Bheem's name is synonymous with Adivasis’ struggle for land rights and rights on water and forests and the tribes are likely to raise the issue at the martyrdom anniversary at Jodeghat.
