MYSURU: Tribals, who had won the hearts of people by serving delicious bamboo briyani all these years at the Dasara Food Festival, have been denied permission by the Food Committee this time.
Adivasis from 12 hadis reached the Scouts and Guides Ground here to earn some money as they have been deprived of work at estates because of poor monsoon. But they were in for a rude shock when the authorities threatened to bulldoze their stall and to file a police complaint against them.
The tribal group, Prakruti Adivasi Foundation Trust, headed by Krishnaiah, had gathered near the shed to inaugurate the ‘Aadivasi Aahara Mane’ when Mysuru Urban Development Authority Commissioner GT Dinesh Kumar, who is Dasara Special Officer for Food Festival, visited the ground.
He told the tribals to remove the shed, set up in a traditional style, as they have not taken permission. For the last eight years, the district administration had voluntarily allotted a small space for the tribals.
The tribals tried to convince Dinesh Kumar that they did not know that they had to take permission and they be allowed to participate as they had invested over Rs 2 lakh. But he refused and warned them that a police complaint would be filed against them, He also sent a few policemen from the Lakshmipuram police station later to warn them.
Krishnaiah told TNIE, “We are around 40 adivasis from Hunsur, HD Kote, Periyapatna and Kodagu, belonging to Jenu Kuruba, Betta Kuraba, Soliga, Yarava and Dungri Grasia.
We used to set up the shed all these years with just the oral permission. But now they want the permission letter and have threatened to raze our shed. To get the permission we have to pay Rs 1 lakh which we cannot afford. We invested a lot of money to set up the shed. When we were erecting it for the last week, we were not stopped by officials.”