CM’s intervention sought restoration of alienated tribal land in Attappady

The Adivasi Bharat Mahasabha (ABM) has sought the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to return the alienated land of the Attappady tribesmen.

In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, ABM coordinator TR Chandran said the land mafia was tightening its grip on Attappady and gradually dispossessing the tribals of their land.

“The tribesmen of Attappady are living between a rock and a hard place. If you don’t take action now, they will eventually be driven out of their native land,” Mr. Chandran said.

He said the alienated tribal land was not returned due to the failure of revenue officials to handle Tribal Land Alienation (TLA) matters over the past 40 years. Instead, revenue officials had given possession documents and tax receipts to non-tribal people on TLA land, he said.

“With such documents, people get access to tribal land with police protection from the court. This is a classic method of land grabbing in Attappady,” he said.

Mr Chandran said the tribals were not getting the land even in settled TLA cases. “This includes a case where the Supreme Court gave a verdict in 2011,” he said.

The 224 acres under survey number 1,275 in Kottathara village belonged to 36 tribal families, and 50 acres of it was forest land. “But 700 people have obtained land rights here through forged documents,” he said.

The 375 acres under survey number 1,819 in Kottathara village was given to tribals in 1999 by former Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar. “But there has been heavy land grabbing in this land. As many as 1,932 title deeds were given away here by former ministers K.E. Ismail and E. Chandrasekharan. But tribals have not got the land here. They are currently facing frequent threats of eviction by the land mafia,” Mr. Chandran said.

He alleged that several organisations, trusts and associations were involved in the land grabbing in Attappady. He said that many non-governmental organisations were beneficiaries of tribal land. “None of them have any links with Attappady. Their land transactions in Attappady should be investigated,” Mr. Chandran said.

The ABM demanded that the tribal family land in Attappady be demarcated and the documents be given to the owners expeditiously. “The ST department should bear the cost,” he said.

Mr. Chandran said that the Attappady Farming Society was largely incurring losses due to the inefficiency of its officials. “The land of the farming society should be returned to its rightful owners,” he said.

The ABM has also initiated legal action under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against revenue officials, including Attappady Tribal Taluk Tahsildar, for providing possession documents and tax receipts to persons encroaching on tribal land.