BHUPALPALLY: Jalagalancha, a settlement of about 38 families belonging to Muria Gond tribe inside the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary (EWS) in Bhupalpally district, tells a story of grit and determination.
The tribe, which is often wrongly ascribed to as ‘Gutti Koya’, have refused to leave their land, the forests, despite being faced by a plethora of problems including intimidation by forest officials, lack of basic necessities like drinking water, healthcare and economic exploitation by locals.
In September this year, over 200 officials of forest department swooped upon Jalagalancha and manhandled the tribals, razed their standing crops, huts including one which housed a school, and removed a hand-pump which was the only source of drinking water. Finally, Hyderabad High Court had to intervene in the issue.
When Express visited the settlement recently, signs of destruction carried out by the forest officials were visible. But most of the huts were built anew and inhabitants were back to tending their farms.
Search of land
While it is often mentioned that Muria Gonds migrated, and settled in forests of Telangana because they were caught in crossfire between security forces and naxalites in Chhattisgarh, especially after the Salwa Judum came into existence in 2006, this claim stands only partially true.
A large percentage of the Muria Gonds migrated to Telangana purely in search of land. Some migrated as far back as 15-20 years. They got into forests in various districts, cleared large tracts of jungles, and settled there. There are around 62 such settlements in Bhupalpally alone.
Malkam Somya of Jalagalancha, who migrated from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh about 18 years ago, says: “Back in Chhattisgarh we had large families with two-three brothers in the same household. The share of land each brother would get was very small. Some of our people migrated to Telangana’s forests and settled here. They also got some support from locals and invited us to the state.”
He further adds, “Lot of efforts have gone into clearing the jungle, developing farms, and establishing the village. We were sent to jail, cases were booked against us, we were taken to magistrate and threatened by forest officials. However, we did not leave. If the government in Telangana wants to shoot and kill us, we will die here, but not leave the forest and go back to Chhattisgarh.”
Resonating the famous tribal call of ‘Jal, jangal, jameen,’ Kursam Raju, another resident of Jalagalancha says, “Our main demand is that the government should let us live in the forest and not force us out. It should grant us the forest land on which we reside now and provide us drinking water along with school for our children and healthcare facilities.”
Although each household in Jalagalancha owns three to five acres of land, they are not well-versed with modern methods of farming. As a result, most of the crops they grow is consumed by them and does not generate much revenue.
They walk to villages located 10-15 km away to work as agricultural labourers and earn about `150-`200 per day.