NILGIRIS: Amid a state government move to reclassify 31,510 acres in the Gudalur constituency as forest land, legislator Pon Jayaseelan has decided to implead as a party to the petition in the Supreme Court.
In his petition, the MLA will seek directions to the Tamil Nadu government to conduct a survey of Section 17 lands in Gudalur.
By doing so the AIADMK leader seeks to ensure priority for residents and farmers to safeguard their livelihood.
The move comes after then-Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary N Muruganandam recently submitted a proposal to reclassify 31,510 acres in the Gudalur constituency as forest land under Section 23 of the Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1969.
Fearing eviction, residents of Gudalur began hoisting black flags in protest in the first week of March and demanded that the proposal be withdrawn.
The issue has taken a political turn, with the AIADMK IT wing allegedly amplifying it among voters ahead of the Assembly election.
Jayaseelan, who is a candidate from the Gudalur constituency, has created a video, claiming that the issue remained unresolved in Tamil Nadu even when M Karunanidhi was the chief minister a few times. The video also explains that the issue was solved in Kerala by allocating 90 percent of the land to the people of the state.
The MLA also blamed the MK Stalin government for the decision to convert 31,510 acres into forest. The video message also states that only 3,500 acres would be allocated to the people of the state and sought the allocation of 15,000 acres.
Speaking to TNIE Jayaseelan said, "My appeal is that the state government should give rights to people to live in the same place and not to snatch their rights. A survey should be done to bifurcate forest as well as the land which was used by small-scale farmers and the residents to ensure that the people continue to live.
"Our request is not new as we have been demanding it for several years. The Tamil Nadu government in its recent affidavit has stated that the residents would be shifted to cluster settlements by converting the surrounding areas of clusters into forest. This will intensify the human-animal interactions," he said.
He said that he has filed an affidavit and it will be numbered in the SC soon before the next hearing.
(Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, empowers the government to urgently acquire land for public purposes by skipping the due process.)