Tribals stir for land intensifies in Wayanad

KOZHIKODE: The latest series of land agitations started by the tribal people in Wayanad district on May 7 has intensified with more vested forest lands being encroached on Monday. New encroachments of forest lands by erecting huts under the aegis of Adivasi Congress, the tribal arm of the Congress, have been reported from Thavinchal 44, Kaithakolli Vattikunnu near Mananthavady. A total of 200 acres of land, which includes Revenue, Forest and Devaswom land, was encroached by around 170 Paniya families at Edapetti. At Chulli near Valad, tribesmen, under the aegis of Adivasi Kshema Samithy (AKS), the feeder organisation of the CPM, have encroached 67 hectares of vested forest land and herbal garden. Earlier on Sunday, an attempt by the tribal people to encroach on a piece of vested forest land at Appad, near Meenangadi in Wayanad district, was foiled by a joint team of police and Forest officials, who evicted about 70 tribal encroachers from the land. Though the police arrested and removed the tribal agitators, later, the group encroached into the vested forest land at Pathirippalam near Meenangadi. Various tribal organisations have kickstarted land grabbing agitations at 13 centres in vested forest land in the district in the last one week. As many as 2,000 families have encroached the land. Unlike in the past, along with AKS, the tribal organisations of Communist Party of India and BJP have also joined in the agitation.