Kallar tribals who lost houses may get land at Theppakulamedu

Coimbatore: A joint team of revenue, forest and land survey department officials inspected and surveyed land at Theppakulamedu in the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in the district on Saturday to prepare a proposal on allocating land to the families of Kallar tribal settlement that lost their huts to the incessant rain more than a year ago. The proposal would be submitted to the district committee of Forest Rights Act.

At least 23 families, which were forced to relocate to the quarters of Thaimudi tea estate near Valparai, have been demanding the district administration to provide them land at Theppakulamedu, which is just 3km away from their settlement, as alternative location.

An official with the sub-committee of Forest Rights Act, said, “Residents of Kallar settlement have been requesting us to provide them land at Theppakulamedu ever since their houses were damaged in 2019. Based on their request, we surveyed the land on Saturday.” He was part of the team that inspected the location.

He said a proposal recommending patta for the families at Theppakulamedu would be submitted to the district committee, the decision of which would be final on the issue.

S Anish Kumar, 23, a resident, said, “During a meeting last week, officials had assured to take steps to provide land patta at Theppakulamedu to 21 families that were living at Kallar settlement in 2005. Now, we are confident that we would get pattas at the location we sought.” They had staged a protest on August 15, pressing for their demand.

Anish Kumar said most of the huts were damaged in August 2019, when heavy rain triggered landslips. “When we attempted to reconstruct them, officials prevented us and assured to provide us an alternative location within 10 days. We were then moved to the tea estate quarters, where 23 families are residing in just six houses.”