Mysuru: It is exactly three years since tribal leader Muthamma staged a nude protest when government authorities tried to evict 528 tribal families from the reserve forest area at Diddalli in Kodagu.
In May 2017 they were relocated from Diddalli to Bedagudda and Basavanahalli when Muthamma staged a nude protest again. Her efforts did not go in vain.
The government which made alternative arrangements for their shelter and food later built and handed over 310 houses to them in February this year. And the remaining 218 houses are likely to be completed in 20 days time according to Kodagu district administration sources.
The district administration was supposed to build 354 houses in Bedagudda on 14.76 acres of land, and 174 houses at Basavanahalli on 6.70 acres of land.
So far, they have built 172 houses at Bedagudda and 138 houses at Basavanahalli at a cost of Rs 4.70 lakh each on 30x30 sites. They were handed over to the tribals by then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on February 28 this year.
Work on 182 houses in Bedagudda and 36 houses in Basavanahalli is likely to be completed in 15 days, according to district tribal officer Shivakumar.
As many as 528 tribal families had moved out of the line houses at plantations in Kodagu in December 2016, alleging that they were treated as bonded labourers there.
They had moved to Diddalli claiming that their ancestors lived there and staged a protest seeking houses and land for agriculture. They had also demanded land and houses for more than 1,000 tribal families living in coffee plantations.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy has formed a committee to conduct a survey of people living in line houses and a meeting in this regard would held next week, according to Mr Shivakumar.
