Eviction threat hangs over Melghat tribals

Tribals resent the manner in which their standing crops were destroyed in Chopan and Buthrum villages. The villagers of the effected village-Sakharam Punaji are in a defiant mood. They say they have decided to resist their `ouster’ with all possible means. “Farming is our only means of livelihood. We will reach a point of starvation if our crops are destroyed,” pleads one Sakharam.

Recalling the incident, social activist Bandya from Khoj says the crops, allegedly grown on reserved forest-land, were destroyed in a ruthless manner by the PT officials in Chopan village.

“A large gathering of tribals watched helplessly as a heavy log was tied to the back of an elephant. Two men stood on the log and as the elephant moved forward, the standing crop was crushed. The same was the case at Buthrum,” says Bandya.

A similar fate awaited tribals of the village Ghana in Dharni tehsil on July 16. Members of Khoj then immediately contacted Deputy Conservator of Forest PT and requested him not to destroy the crops. But the request remained unheeded. In desperation, Khoj then filed a PIL in the Nagpur branch of the Bombay High Court. The court gave a stay on PT moves to destroy crops till any final decision on the issue was reached.

Purnima Upadhyay of Khoj says their group is not averse to development. By supporting the tribals, they did not wish to support encroachment of any kind. On the contrary, their support was entirely based on humanitarian and historical grounds that forests have been the traditional habitat of the tribals.

For the Korku tribes in Melghat, agriculture is the only means of survival. However, one fact that has even been accepted in writing by top officials of the forest department is that there are lot of gaps in the land-records of the Melghat region, since the area was originally completely under the forest administration. In 1969, some land was transferred to the Revenue Department. A survey was then conducted by the Revenue Department and some people managed to get pattas of land. In May 1999, almost half of the area of Melghat came under the unified control of Project Tiger and since then there is a move to oust tribals from the region.

One of the main reasons why the tribals were facing eviction despite living in the area for generations was their failure to preserve land-records because of ignorance and illiteracy; evidence such as preliminary offence reports (POR), receipts of fines paid that would have readily proved their claims. This could have been verified by the Project Tiger officials, since PORs are the documents of the forest department.

It was because of lack of such documents that a case had been filed in the Supreme Court by the Kastkari Sanghatana in 1987 in order to look at the alleged encroachments by the tribals. The Supreme Court, in its order in 1995, had directed the state government to form a committee at the district-level to study the cases of encroachments by the tribes and to make necessary recommendations to the State. The present status of the committee comprised the officials from years after the formation of the committee is not known.

While tribals are blamed for illegal tree-cutting, timber mafia and poachers have had a field day. Unless the forest department and Project Tiger officials look at the issue dispassionately, tribals will continue to suffer in the name of development.