COIMBATORE: District Revenue Department facilitated a special visit of tribal people from six villages to the government exhibition at Coimbatore on Sunday. Around 110 tribal people came to visit the exhibition arranged at the prison ground at Nanjappa Road in Gandhipuram.
Normally, the exhibition is open from 4 pm to 7 pm but the administration has changed the timing from 12 pm to 4 pm so that the tribals can visit it.
Speaking about the special arrangement, Revenue Divisional Officer (Coimbatore North) K Booma said, "Five tribal members from District Forest Right Committee in the settlements and TNSPC aspirants from tribal people were selected and given the opportunity to view the exhibition."
"To ensure the community is getting its rights provided under the law, the district administration is working on marking areas in the forest by using GPS technology. Already, the work is in progress at Vazhachal in Kerala and Sathyamangalam, but it was a mapping work through manual. Coimbatore is the first district to do the mapping using the technology in Tamil Nadu with the support of the forest department," she added.
The district administration had made the arrangement without any cost to the tribal people. To bring the tribals from 38 tribal settlements in Velliankadu and Pillar revenue villages to the exhibition place, four vehicles were arranged by the district administration. Collector GS Sameeran came up with this idea as the tribals hardly get a chance to visit the exhibition due to their lifestyle, sources said.