Tribal people cheated out of land and compensation during relocation process from MTR stage protest in Ooty
Tribal residents, who were relocated from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), staged a protest in front of the District Collector's office on Monday, demanding that a list of 17 demands be fulfilled.
The residents, who were part of a government effort to relocate them away from the tiger reserve, alleged that they were cheated by Forest Department staff, lawyers and land brokers during the relocation process.
K. Mahendran from the Tamil Nadu Tribal People's Association said a total of 574 families had been relocated so far from the tiger reserve in multiple phases, with 108 families still residing inside the reserve and refusing to move out. He said despite the Madras High Court directing the government in 2007 to ensure that the people were moved out within a year, that the Forest Department only began the process in earnest in 2016.
The activists claimed that the government did not follow rules laid down by the Wildlife Protection Act, the Forest Rights Act and the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act while undertaking the relocation of the tribal families.
They called on the government to expedite the proceedings against the Forest Department staff, lawyers and land brokers who have been booked under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act, and against whom a case has been ongoing since 2019. The men were booked for cheating the Kattunayakan and Paniya residents from villages within the reserve.
They also wanted the government to help get them documents to the land that had been sold to them by the accused in the case. Another one of their demands was to stop demanding the relocation of the remaining tribal villages within the reserve, provide compensation to the children of residents who are now 18 years of age, increase compensation to ₹25 lakh to the people relocated from ₹10 lakh that was promised in 2008, among others.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
26 minutes ago
- The Hindu
The difficult task of keeping everyone happy
The recent Cabinet expansion in Telangana reflects the Congress's promised commitment to social justice. By inducting three Ministers — Gaddam Vivek and Adluri Laxman from the Scheduled Caste (SC) group and Vakiti Srihari from the Backward Classes (BC) group — as well as leaders from socially and economically backward communities for various posts, the party has attempted to realign its power structure to better represent historically marginalised groups. However, this has not come without friction, particularly from the dominant Reddy community, which feels ignored despite its numerical and political clout in the Assembly. Of the seven BC MLAs in the Congress, three have been given Cabinet posts and two have been appointed as chief whip and whip. Among Ministers, Ponnam Prabhakar is from the Goud community, Konda Surekha belongs to the Padmashali community (with her husband hailing from the Munnuru Kapu community), and Vakiti Srihari comes from the Mudiraj caste. Pradesh Congress Committee chief A. Mahesh Kumar Goud is a Goud from the BC community. BCs enjoy more representation not just in the Cabinet, but also in key political roles. Additionally, with the inclusion of Mr. Vivek and Mr. Laxman, the number of SC leaders in the Cabinet has increased to four. They are split equally between the Mala and Madiga sub-groups. This balance is critical in a State where internal divisions within SC communities have influenced political equations, particularly the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, a Mala, holds the Finance portfolio, while former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narsimha holds the Health portfolio. Despite this progressive outlook, Congress has triggered dissatisfaction within its largest and historically most influential support base, the Reddy community. In the 119-member Assembly, 43 MLAs are from the Reddy community. Within the Congress, 26 of the 64 MLAs are from the Reddy community. Those who have been left out include strong aspirants such as Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, P. Sudarshan Reddy, T. Rammohan Reddy, and Malreddy Ranga Reddy. Mr. Rajgopal Reddy, who played a key role in boosting the Congress's prospects by jumping ship from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the elections, feels particularly aggrieved, especially since his political ally, Vivek Venkatswamy, was inducted into the Cabinet. Both leaders were promised a berth. When Mr. Rajgopal Reddy, Mr. Venkatswamy, and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) entered the Congress at around the same time, it created the perception that the BJP was losing ground and that the Congress was the only alternative to the BRS. No one can deny impact of these leaders on the overall performance of the party even though Revanth Reddy, who was then PCC chief, strongly built an anti-BRS narrative. The BJP, which was looking strong, lost steam when Mr. Rajgopal Reddy and Mr. Venkatswamy exited the party at a crucial juncture. Mr. Rajgopal Reddy's brother, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, is a Minister and hails from Nalgonda — a Reddy bastion. While being progressive in its politics, the Congress would also do well in ensuring that its traditional support base, the Reddy community, is kept happy. While the Congress's caste arithmetic may have worked, the representation of regional and minority members leaves much to be desired. Key districts such as Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, and Nizamabad have gone not represented in the Cabinet. Muslims, and Lambadas among the tribal communities, have also been left out. There is no Muslim MLA in the Congress fold. The party has only one Muslim MLC, Amer Ali Khan. To bridge this gap, Congress is considering fielding a Muslim candidate from Jubilee Hills in the coming by-election. The names of Mohd Azharuddin, a cricketer, and Faheem Qureshi, a confidante of the Chief Minister, are being floated. To compensate for the absence of the Lambada community, the Chief Minister nominated Ram Chander Naik, an MLA from Dornakal, as Deputy Speaker. This complements the appointment of Gaddam Prasad Kumar, a Dalit, as Speaker. As a result, Telangana is perhaps the only State where both the presiding officers of the Assembly belong to the SC and ST communities, respectively.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Fourth arrest in Rs 10cr ambergris case exposes interstate smuggling network
Margao: Sanguem police arrested a fourth person in connection with last week's seizure of ambergris worth Rs 10 crore, further cementing their suspicions that the illegal whale vomit trade involves a sophisticated interstate smuggling syndicate. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sachin Mhatre, a resident of Pen, Raigad, was apprehended by a special police team and brought to Goa for questioning. The arrest follows the June 6 seizure at Dabamol village in Sanguem, where three men—Sainath Shet from Ponda, Ratuakant Karapurkar from Zuarinagar, and Vegesh Redkar from Sawantwadi—were caught with nearly 6kg of the banned substance. 'A team was sent to Mumbai after interrogation of the three accused arrested earlier. The team succeeded in locating him in Pen, and he was brought to Goa,' said Sanguem PI Ditendra Naik. The investigation revealed that Vegesh Redkar, one of the three men initially arrested, sourced the ambergris from Mhatre. 'His custodial interrogation will reveal further links,' Naik told TOI , confirming that this was indeed an interstate operation. 'There are likely to be more arrests. We will try to get to the bottom of the case and bust the illegal trade.' The Raigad connection validates police suspicions about the organised nature of the smuggling ring. Nevertheless, choosing the remote Dabamol village as a transaction point continues to puzzle the police. This case bears striking similarities to previous ambergris seizures in the region, including the Feb 2024 case where Konkan railway police arrested two Kerala residents with 6kg of whale vomit worth Rs 5.6 crore at Margao railway station. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Police are examining possible connections between these cases and the 2020 Sawantwadi incident involving three Goans. Ambergris, produced in sperm whale digestive systems, commands premium prices in international perfume markets despite being banned under India's Wildlife Protection Act 1972. The substance's rarity and commercial value continue to attract smugglers willing to risk severe legal consequences. All four accused face charges under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, including illegal possession and trading of protected marine mammal derivatives.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Sri Sathya Sai district cops arrest seven more in teen sexual assault case
Tirupati: Seven more persons, including a minor, were arrested on Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Sri Sathya Sai district. According to information the minor was illegally confined for several months by a group of men who sexually assaulted her multiple times in a village in Sri Sathya Sai district. She somehow managed to escape from the confinement and lodged a complaint with the local police station. A case was registered under various sections of the BNS Act, SC-ST Atrocities Act, Pocso Act and the IT Act. The incident sparked a public outrage and six accused were arrested on Monday. Seven more involved in the crime were arrested on Tuesday. Sri Sathya Sai district SP V Rathna told reporters that special police teams led by Dharmavaram DSP were on the lookout for the remaining accused in the case and asserted that they will also be nabbed very soon.
