ATTAPPADY (PALAKKAD), JULY 11: A master-plan, which envisages construction of houses, roads and checkdams, is being drawn up by the government to induce tribals to occupy the land in Attappady which remains unoccupied even after the lapse of a year since it was allotted to them in lieu of the land lost by alienation.The first phase of the programme has already begun and a Tea Growers' Co-operative Society was formed on July 1 to rehabilitate 55 Scheduled Tribes' families in the Varadimala range where 156 acres of land have been distributed. The society would cultivate tea in this area with assistance from the Tea Board, Coonoor, UPASI (United Planters' Association of South India), Coonoor and the State Government, the collector said.But the tribals seem to be far from happy with the rehabilitation package. ``We will not shift to that place. If you start walking in the morning, you will reach there by noon only. No houses, no school, no hospital. The way is through the forest where there are wild animals, including elephants.'' a tribal, one Shivan of Sholayur, said.Adivasis also express doubts about the possibility of growing tea in this area. They point out that a part of the area was planted with Eucalyptus by the Forest Department under the Social Forestry Scheme, three years ago, but the plants have not grown even a few inches.``Also the society may suffer the same fate as the Attappady Farming Co-operative Society, which was formed in 1975, as part of the Western Ghats' Development Programme to rehabilitate 450 tribal families. It became a total failure due to the large-scale corruption,'' convenor of the Bhoosamrakshana Vedi, C Narayanan, said.Exactly one year after the much-hyped Attappady land deed distribution mela conducted on July 10 last, with the ambitious aim of providing land to all landless Adivasis, not a single tribal has occupied the allotted land. As much as 1,218 acres of land allotted to 475 Adivasis remain unoccupied and uncultivated due to the extremely-poor quality of the land. In some areas the Government has not completed demarcation of the allotted land.According to Palakkad District Collector K Elangovan, since no excess land was available with the Government in the valley, the only option before the administration was to make the allotted land cultivable. Experts from the Farmers' Training Centre, Alathur, have visited the allotted areas and submitted their report. There are also proposals for laying roads and building houses. Assistance would be given to tribals for cultivation through the ITDP (Integrated Tribal Development Programme).``We have once again been betrayed,'' an Adivasi activist in Agali said, ``What we got is barren, rocky land which cannot be cultivated and inhabited.''At the land-deed distribution mela, state revenue minister Ismail had claimed that he had visited the land and that he found it cultivable and inhabitable. However, even the Government officials admit in private that the tribals cannot occupy the land unless the state government spends a huge amount of money for constructing roads and for bringing water to these areas and on other infrastructural development.Tribal activists point out that this money would be enough for buying equal areas of fertile land down the valley. The 300 acres of land that had been allotted to 114 tribals at Adwanapetty in Kottathara village is part of the 450 acres of the surplus land which had already been distributed to 221 tribal families in 1979. Those who had settled down there earlier had left the place since the land was uncultivable and uninhabitable. It is a rain-shadow area and 2,300 metres above sea-level.Tribals say that there is no source of drinking water and also for irrigation. Last year, the same land was distributed again to the tribals. The land allotted to Moola in 1999 is the same land that had been allotted to his father Chellan in 1978.Reaching the nearly 500-acre of land earmarked at Melthottam in Sholayur panchayat is a herculean task. It is 15 km from Sholayur - the last bus stop. Adivasis said strong, cold winds lash the region throughout the year and only the broom-grass grows here. It was once inhabited by tribals who later abandoned it some decades ago due to the extreme weather.The land allotted to tribals at Moolaganganga in Sholayur Panchayat is a bamboo-break. The land was transferred to Kerala recently after the joint re-survey by the Tamil Nadu and Kerala Governments. Here too, no drinking water is available, let alone for irrigation.Environmentalists point out that to destroy the environmentally important bamboo break is not advisable. Dr P S Panicker of Jan Jagratha, Palakkad, who was a member of the fact-finding team that visited these areas, said: ``For the Adivasis, the 1999 land distribution mela was yet another drama in the long history of betrayal and exploitation of tribals by the State.''
