Tamil Nadu: Badaga tribes oppose move to make hill village reserve forest
Ooty: Facing the axe from the Forest department which has issued notice to vacate the houses at Ajjoor Badaga village near here, which is a fairly big village with 290 houses, the residents there, who are alleged to have occupied the forest land and established the village there, are now spending sleepless nights over the issue.
While this issue is likely to crop up when the State Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K. Palaniswamy is slated to visit the hills on December 30, this has become a hot topic now among the Badagas, who constitute for the single largest ethnic community in Nilgiris and who live in around 300 villages across the hills.
Ajjoor villagers told DC that the Forest department recently served notice to vacate the village immediately as the land on which the village had been established in the past purportedly belongs to the Forest department. On Sunday, the Badaga community leaders held a meet at Ajjoor village to formulate their strategies to counter this issue.
Stating that for centuries and over generations the residents of Ajjoor had been living in the village, Mr. Nanjan, the village head, said that government had approved this village and provided all the infrastructure facilities including a school, water connectivity, community hall and related infrastructure.
Now, all of a sudden the Forest department claimed that the land on which the villagers constructed their house belong to them and served notice to the villagers to vacate the houses and, shockingly, the village, itself. “This is atrocious. The villagers want the district administration of Nilgiris to take immediate steps to solve this issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, Forest department sources said that in the recent past the Revenue department had handed over their land in Ajjoor to the Forest department. But, 149 houses of the Ajjoor residents have been built on that transferred land. Since, now, that land belongs to the Forest department the department served notice, sources said.
R. Ganesh, Congress MLA representing Ooty, said that he had already taken up this issue with the district administration and action will be taken to provide necessary 'pattas' under the Forest Rights Act to the affected villagers, he added.
