Madikeri: 52 tribal families who entered the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve seeking land rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) have remained inside the forest as a form of protest. Meanwhile, the forest department is demanding their vacate, citing legal and implementation hurdles.
More than 150 tribals from the Jenukuruba, Betta Kuruba, Yarava and Paniya communities have occupied forest land in the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, demanding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
However, according to the forest department, the status quo has to be maintained till July 25 after the Supreme Court order. Moreover, the forest officials are unable to forcibly evict them as 50% of the tribal population occupying the land consists of women and children.
“We have not occupied the forest land, but our ancestral land. We were evicted from that place about 45 years ago under the Wildlife Protection Act. After this, we lived in the line houses of the estates in the surrounding areas and since then we have been living in a miserable condition. After the FRA Act, we saw the hope of legally reoccupying our ancestral land. We have been evicted from our ancestral land and we have suffered a lot,” said Jenu Kurubara Shivu, one of the tribal leaders and secretary of the Nagarhole Adivasi Tribal Forest Rights Implementation Committee.
He explained that they have been protesting for the implementation of the FRA since 2009-10. “After we came to know about the FRA, a total of 52 tribal families have filed applications for the grant of forest rights,” he said.
A joint review process was ordered in 2021 and a joint review was conducted by Forest, Revenue, Tribal Welfare and Panchayat Raj in 2024. The report of the joint review was to be submitted within four months, but it was always getting delayed. "The officials of the concerned departments have not signed the joint review, which highlights the incompetence of the government departments," he alleged.
Several protests were held in recent days and they were kept away by the officials who made false promises, he explained.
"But this time, we have occupied our ancestral land and the protests will continue indefinitely until we are given our rights," he said. The tribals have been occupying forest land for the past five days and have built temporary structures for their deities inside the forest zone.
Meanwhile, retired PCCF B.K. Singh, in a letter to the Chief Minister, has urged the government to temporarily stop granting land under the FRA. Further, Singh has filed a petition in the Supreme Court and has been ordered to maintain the status quo of the forests, barring any new activities or changes till July 25.
FRA should not be considered as land grant as it exacerbates wildlife conflict and the December 13, 2005 They have then urged the government not to grant land to those who encroached on the forest.
The tribals talking to forest officials in the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve