Stop ‘forced’ eviction in Andhra: HRW to India

Since January 2007, the Andhra Pradesh forest department has made about 10 attempts to forcibly evict displaced persons from Kothooru, it said.

“Many thousands of men, women, and children fled to Andhra Pradesh from the conflict in Chhattisgarh,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, senior researcher for South Asia at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of providing them with safe sanctuary, the authorities are tearing down their homes and putting them in harm’s way,” she claimed.

The watchdog said since June 2005, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have fled to Khammam and Warrangal districts of Andhra Pradesh following escalating tensions in neighbouring Chhattisgarh between Naxalites, an armed Maoist group, and a “state-supported” vigilante group called Salwa Judum.

The HRW said that its investigation in November and December 2007 showed that most villagers fled to Andhra Pradesh because of attacks by Salwa Judum and police. Saying these settlements are illegal, the authorities have without prior notice or due process repeatedly burned down the hamlets of hundreds of displaced persons, forcibly evicting them from forestlands, the agency added.

“In some cases, Andhra Pradesh forest department officials have forced them into trucks and dropped them close to the Chhattisgarh state boundary,” the HRW alleged.