Nilgiris villagers fight to retain govt land
Udhagamandalam: Villagers of Nedugula , Mel Oden and Kil Oden in Kotagiri taluk in the district on Wednesday protested the revenue department’s move to transfer around 25 acres of land in the area that they had long been using for cultivation to the forest department.
The protest broke out when revenue officials initiated a land survey in the area on Wednesday.
The survey was, however, stopped midway due to the protest.
Earlier, the government had accepted and approved the district revenue officer’s proposal to transfer 25 acres of land belonging to the forest department at Indu Nagar in Ooty taluk to the health and family welfare department to set up a new government medical college.
The villagers said the revenue department was now planning to compensate the forest department by giving them away 25 acres of land in their area.
The villagers said they had been enjoying the land for more than 100 years. “We cultivate tea and vegetables in some areas. This is a question of our survival. We will be helpless if the government takes over the land,” one of the villagers, who didn’t want to be named, said.
Earlier, the government had accepted and approved the district revenue officer’s proposal to transfer 25 acres of land belonging to the forest department at Indu Nagar in Ooty taluk to the health and family welfare department to set up a new government medical college.
The villagers said the revenue department was now planning to compensate the forest department by giving them away 25 acres of land in their area.
The villagers said they had been enjoying the land for more than 100 years. “We cultivate tea and vegetables in some areas. This is a question of our survival. We will be helpless if the government takes over the land,” one of the villagers, who didn’t want to be named, said.
Pointing out that the revenue officials hadn’t conducted any land survey in the area in the past 50 years, they wondered why the officials were surveying the land now.
When contacted, Coonoor sub collector Ranjit Singh said, “The land extending more than 150 acres near Nedugula village belongs to the revenue department. The villagers cannot stop the revenue officials from performing their duty.”
Asked whether they were planning to transfer the land to the forest department as a compensation for the latter’s 25 acres land at Indu Nagar, he said they were yet to take a final call on that. “Even it is for that purpose, firstly the forest department should agree with the proposed land.”
The officer said the villagers were politicizing the issue unnecessarily. “We are not favouring or discriminating against anyone. People who enjoy the revenue land are encroachers.”
Next Story
READ ON APP