NILGIRIS: Several voters of Ajjoor village in the Ooty Assembly constituency initially kept off the polling booths to express their protest against the apathy of the Nilgiris district administration in addressing their land issues with the forest department.
Likely many here later turned up at the booths and chose NOTA to express their opposition to government officials, said local sources.
Only 17 villagers had cast their votes at the booths until 12 pm on Thursday. The polling booths were deserted when TNIE visited the area in the morning.
Officers from the local bodies and the police department came to the spot around 2 pm, held talks with the people, and assured them that steps would be taken to address the issue after polling.
By evening, however, 768 out of the 941 voters cast their votes at their booth. The booth is for voters of Ajjoor, Maniyada, and Madurai Veeran Colony in Dhottani.
Local head R Balakrishnan told TNIE villagers were advised to vote for NOTA as they were not satisfied with the response of officials to local issues.
We took this decision because the forest department has been torturing us and forcing us to vacate the area, claiming that the land is a Reserved Forest, Balakrishnan said.
No steps had been taken on the matter even though they had been raising the issue with the district administration since 2017, he further alleged.
"We had submitted a petition about voting for NOTA, but the district collector failed to convene a meeting and ignored the issue. So, we asked people to vote for NOTA, and they cast their votes for NOTA in the election," he said.
"As many as 350 families have been residing here for more than 300 years. In 2017, the Forest Department suddenly issued a notice asking us to vacate the area, claiming it was a reserved forest area. But it is not a reserved forest and belongs to the revenue department," he pointed out.
"We opposed the forest department's move and demanded a patta that same year. The district administration issued patta to 160 families in 2018. Now, the forest department is claiming that the patta issued by the district administration is invalid. We have been facing this issue since 2018," he added.
Activist KS Ponnaiyan said the forest department has barred them from plucking tea leaves, thus affecting their livelihoods.
He added that the district administration has not taken any steps to resolve the issue by convening a meeting with the forest and revenue departments.
An officer from the local body said that steps would be taken to resolve this issue by convening a meeting.