The forest personnel on Wednesday dismantled six alleged unauthorised sheds erected inside the Attur-Kolli forest area of the Nagarahole Wildlife Range
The forest personnel on Wednesday dismantled six alleged unauthorised sheds erected inside the Attur-Kolli forest area of the Nagarahole Wildlife Range. This was in response to repeated resistance by tribal families who had occupied the land in early May and were reportedly obstructing forest department officials from accessing the site.
According to Nagarahole assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Ananya Kumar, members of the tribal community entered the forest on May 5 and felled nearly 42 saplings to clear space for new shelters. “Despite being served a notice on June 17 and given another chance on June 18 to voluntarily dismantle the new sheds, the encroachers blocked entry routes of officials,” Kumar said. “Forest staff, under heavy police cover, accessed the area through an alternative path and proceeded with the demolition.”
He said that claims by the tribal families that asserted ancestral links to the land could not be substantiated. “The tribals claimed that they were the original inhabitants of the forest and staying since decades. But the documents available with department and surveys conducted by NGOs and even Google Maps found no human inhabitant in the area earlier. According to the Forest Rights Act, the inhabitants should have constructed their huts and cultivated the land in the forest before December 13, 2005. But there were no signs of human living, and the tribals failed to provide any proof of it,” he said, adding that the sub-division level committee (SDLC) had already rejected their land rights petition.
He further said that while six new structures were demolished, six earlier sheds built in May were left untouched. Officials clarified that while the SDLC had turned down the land claims on May 22 this year, the applicants still have the right to appeal before the district level committee (DLC) within 60 days.
The eviction has sparked a backlash from tribal rights activists. JA Shivu, president of the Nagarhole Adivasi Jammapale Hakku Sthapana Samithi, said the affected families had long-standing ties to the forest and had only temporarily migrated for work. “We are not demanding any new rights from government, it is our right which is given by the Act under the Constitution but forest officials are suppressing our rights. We will take up agitation till our right is given,” he said.