COIMBATORE: An eight-member committee will conduct a meeting on March 6 with Thengumarahada residents as part of relocating them outside of Sathymangalam and Mudumalai tiger reserve forests.
This comes in the wake of Madras High Court order on January 29, 2022. The court-appointed committee consists of the field director of STR who is the convener of the committee and field director of MTR, district collectors as well as district forest officers from Erode, Coimbatore and Nilgiris.
Sources said this is the first time that a committee from the forest and revenue departments will be conducting a public hearing on the issue. Around 400 people living in the forests are expected to participate. The committee will submit its report to the court on March 10.
According to Chief wildlife warden Neeraj Sekar, "A total of 500 acres land have been allotted to Thengumarahada cooperative society for 142 families between 1948 and 1952. Subsequently, all these 142 families sub-leased the lands to about 500 families which is a violation of the government orders."
He explained, while most part of the land in Thengumarahada comes under the buffer zone of MTR, a part of the boundary is in the core area of STR and the entry point to the village is through Erode. The village comes under Kotagiri taluk and is located on the northern slopes of the Nilgiris. It can be accessed after 30 km mud road if passing through STR from Karachikorai forest check post.
Many have taken the land in sublease for cultivating cash crops like banana and sugarcane. The village is also an important connecting point between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats, Neeraj Sekar added.
We are relocating the people of Thengumarahada because of the increasing tiger population in STR and MTR, the chief wildlife warden pointed out. Further, people who are legal landowners will be provided with compensation or land, he added.