சிவ் விஸ்வநாதன்
Land grabbing is a huge issue in Gudalur .25000 acres!! Tamils appear
to be dumb that this is not known as a big issue ever!
http://googleweblight.com/i?u= http%3A%2F%2Findiatoday. intoday.in%2Fstory%2Ffresh- confrontation-between-tamil- nadu-govt-and-encroachers-on- nilgiri-forest-lands%2F1
%2F402282.html&grqid=gDsKb8I7& hl=en-IN
But gudalur was not part of malabar district ever. This is factually wrong!
Fresh confrontation between Tamil Nadu govt and encroachers on Nilgiri
forest lands 15101981
googleweblight.com
V.S. Palaniappan
Many unresolved issues continued to remain a major poll plank, where
the two major Dravidian majors are locking horns over the battle of
ballots in Gudalur. The battle this time looks like AIADMK trying to
wrest the seat from the DMK.
Tucked in the lower reaches of the Nilgiris hills, Gudalur
constituency shares borders with Karnataka and Kerala. While the
Karnataka side is separated by two tiger reserves, the Kerala side
seems to be a major route for mutual business.
The major bone of contention for the electorate and a challenge for
the candidates is a solution to the Janmam lands issue. People seeking
patta for the lands are not able to get the same owing to an imbroglio
over Section 17 of the Janmam Ryotwari Act of 1972.
The Zamin lands during independence were nationalised by Kerala and
Karnataka under this Act and Revenue and Forest Departments there had
taken possession of the land, whereas Tamil Nadu failed to nationalise
these lands and lessees had moved the Supreme Court. The legal
stalemate on one side and a ban on issue of patta for the entire
Nilgiris continues to be a contentious issue.
“Engalukku mirugangalai rakshikinna sarcar vendam, engalukku makkalai
rakshikinna arasu thane venum” is the response of a group of
autorickshaw drivers at Gudalur – meaning - we want a government that
would protect human beings and not just the wildlife. In a conflict
situation, the priority of the State seems to be wildlife, they added.
Such is the impact of human – animal conflict in this region.
Presence of Janmam lands had resulted in forest remaining in 216
pockets and wildlife not having a migratory path to move to contiguous
forest areas. Nature enthusiasts wanting the Government to look beyond
politics want creation of a corridor for seven km with a width of 1.5
to 2 km for the migration of wildlife on the Mudumalai – Kerala
section. Frequent incidents of loss of human lives in conflicts had
turned the focus on Gudalur in the recent times and mitigations have
remained ad-hoc and there is a pertinent need for long term and
scientific solution to the issue, says T. Bhojan, a resident of
Nilgiris.
The constituency by virtue of its location has a mixed demographic
profile with Irular, Kurumba, Paniya and Kattu Naicker tribes being
the native ones, besides Sri Lankan repatriates, Keralites and Muslims
having a substantial presence.
The primary economy of the constituency largely depends on plantations
such as tea, coffee, ginger, pepper and cardamom. For some of the
plantation products i.e., spices, the cultivators are largely
dependant on Kerala for getting a remunerative price and marketing
avenue. The cultivators look for a marketing mechanism on the Tamil
Nadu side to escape from the clutches of cartels and syndicates
operating on the other side, says a plantation manager seeking
anonymity. They feel that pepper, cardamom and coffee were not getting
a remunerative price.
Land owners are sore that the enforcement mode of Tamil Nadu
Preservation of Private Forest Act was curtailing their entitled
rights over their land and expect a promise from the candidates to
revisit the same. Pattavayal, Pandalur, and Devala, which were known
as local Cherrapunji, are seeing a declining groundwater table.
But for roads, the constituency has not seen any major leap in terms
of infrastructure. The population still for their higher education and
health related needs are travelling to Kalpetta, Perunthalmanna and
Kozikode as the terrain makes the travel easy rather than making an
uphill travel to Udhagamandalam and then descend from there to
Coimbatore.
The seat that was won by the DMK five times, thrice by the AIADMK and
twice by the Congress is witnessing a keen contest between the
Dravidian majors namely sitting MLA M. Thiravidamani of DMK and S.
Kalaiselvan of AIADMK.
The CPI-M nominee P. Tamil Mani is giving the Dravidian majors a tough
time owing to the presence of a sizeable presence of workforce. Also
in the fray are B.M. Prasuram of BJP and Murugesh of PMK.
www.thehindu.com/news/ national/tamil-nadu/ unresolved-issues-haunt- candidates/article8592658.ece
Fresh confrontation between Tamil Nadu govt and encroachers on Nilgiri
forest lands
Raj Chengappa Thursday, October 31, 2013
Text resize
Gudalur, a picturesque taluk in the foothills of Tamil Nadu's
cloud-capped Nilgiri mountains, is all set for a fresh confrontation
in the hard-fought 10-year-old battle between the state Government and
encroachers on the district's forest and revenue lands.
While the state Government is keen on evicting settlers who have
encroached on 25,000 acres after 1972, the 7,000 affected families are
demanding that those of them who had come before 1978 should be given
pattas (title deeds) for the lands.
On September 13 the Government resumed its massive drive to evict
encroachers according to its 1972 formula which it had stopped on
August 19 following a storm of protest by Opposition parties
spearheaded by the Congress (I). In mid-June the AIADMK Chief Minister
M. G. Ramachandran had launched "Operation Eviction". Around 450
families were evicted and crops grown on 960 acres of forest land were
destroyed.
But after a Gudalur bandh was called on June 25, in which 57 persons
were arrested for indulging in violence and Congress (I) leaders began
a simultaneous fast in Madras and Gudalur, Ramachandran cleverly
suspended the eviction drive, two days before the legislature met, to
avoid the expected barrage of criticism from opposition parties.
The chief minister had promised to appoint to top official to study
the situation but when the heat was off he gave the green signal to
the eviction squad consisting of three companies of special police and
a host of forest officials to go ahead with the drive. So far 30 more
families have been evicted.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Home Minister Zail Singh asked
Ramachandran to send a report on eviction. Sensing that the eviction
drive would be resumed the State Congress (I) party convened a
Nilgiris
District Congress (I) Committee meeting on September 12 and 13 at
Ooty, the district headquarters, 50 kilometres from Gudalur, to chalk
out their strategy. Threatened K. Baby, DCC(I) secretary, "There will
soon be a massive agitation worse than the previous one."
Forest officials destroying crops and planting eucalyptus saplings
Peculiar History: The peculiar history of Gudalur has made the problem
all the more complex and delicate. Wedged between Kerala and
Karnataka, Gudalur was formerly part of the old Malabar district of
the Madras Presidency. When the states were reorganised in 1956
Malabar, minus Gudalur, was ceded to Kerala.
The taluk was attached to the newly formed Nilgiris district
consisting of Ooty and Coonoor. Being a border taluk, its 1,52,000
population (1971 census) is a strange cocktail of Malayalees,
Tamilians and Kannadigas. Recently, the Malayalee population increased
to an estimated 70 per cent and Gudalur now resembles a Kerala town
and Malayalam has become the lingua franca.
Although the Tamil Nadu Government will not admit it, the influx of
Malayalees in recent years has been one of the major reasons for the
eviction drives. In fact, of the 7,000 affected families, Baby himself
admits that 5,000 are Malayalees, 1,000 are Tamils and the rest
Kannadigas. Sri Lanka repatriates have also started encroaching on the
lands.
The Government fears that if the Malayalee inflow is not halted they
may soon demand that Gudalur be ceded to Kerala as the border is
hardly 20 km away. While denying there is any Malayalee secessionist
move, A.J. Joseph, a Malayalee advocate and Janata Party leader, said:
"The Government's determined eviction drive is suspect as most of it
is directed against us."
Even Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar showed his concern by sending
two top revenue board officials to Ooty recently to hold talks with
their counterparts in Tamil Nadu. They were reassured that there was
no discrimination against any particular section of encroachers.
MGR : Bent on removing encroachers
Takeover: But the Gudalur problem is more complex than simple
regionalism. Its origin goes back to the Gudalur Janman Estates
(Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act of 1969. The Act was
passed to take possession of 85,000 acres of forest land owned by the
Nilambur Kovilagam of neighbouring Kerala. Out of these 85,000 acres
the Nilambur raja had leased out 60,000 acres to big plantations and
the remaining 25,000 acres were cultivated either by tenants or
squatters.
Under the Janman Abolition Act the Government classified the occupants
of the land into three groups:
Planters who had taken the land on long-term lease; Tenants who were
recognised by the erst while owner receipts for rents paid to them
Trespassers and encroachers.
Under Section 17 of the Act the Government was empowered to terminate
the lease agreements of plantations and pay compensation. Sections 8
and 9 of the Act decreeing that all the tenants would receive pattas
was pushed through smoothly.
The real problem arose in dealing with encroachers. Under Section 10,
the Government was empowered to issue a patta to those who could prove
that they had cultivated the land for a continuous period of three
agricultural years immediately before June 1, 1969.
Unfortunately, the Act could be implemented only after 1974 when the
High Court finally rejected the claims of the Nilambur family who had
contested the Act. By then the number of encroachers had risen from 5,
000 to 9, 000 complicating the entire issue. Officials say that during
the five years the case was in court, the land-grab movement began,
along with one of the biggest land rackets ever to hit Tamil Nadu.
Officials speak of the deals only in hushed tones and are unwilling to
be quoted. The technique, they reveal, was deliciously simple. Knowing
that the land was under dispute, hordes of land-hungry cultivators
from Kerala encroached upon it.
The land-grabber did not come so much for the rich, fertile soil but
to cut the dense forests for timber and clandestinely sell it,
naturally greasing the palms of forest officials. The proof of their
deals can be seen today in Gudalur taluk: almost all the shola (dense)
forests have disappeared leaving behind only stumps as ghostly
reminders of the devastation wrought by these unscrupulous
businessmen.
Not satisfied with earnings from timber, the land-grabbers would start
coffee, cardamom, ginger, tapioca or lemon grass plantations on the
cleared land and then sell it to landless people promising that the
lands would be regularised by the Government soon.
After that they would move on to other areas and start the whole
process again. As a result, the real exploiters who became rich
overnight are not affected by the eviction drive; it is the gullible
poor who purchased plantations from them who are facing the crunch.
A settler views the end of his labours: The gullible suffered
Vain Attempts: The Government's eviction drives, except for the recent
one, have been dismal failures. In 1972 when the then chief minister
M. Karunanidhi tried his hand at it, the settlers went on a rampage
destroying Forest Department nurseries and plantations.
They were supported by political parties in Kerala, and Father
Vaddakan of the Karshaka Thozhilali Paity even undertook an indefinite
fast. Karunanidhi stopped the evictions and reportedly agreed to give
pattas for a maximum of three acres to those who had occupied the land
before 1972. So far 6,000 pattas have been issued but settlers
complain that unless officials are tipped heavily they never get to
see their pattas.
In 1978 Chief Minister Ramachandran launched another eviction drive.
However, after some 100 families were evicted Louis Thuruthy, the
Machikoli village branch president of the Congress(I), committed
self-immolation in front of the Revenue Divisional Office in Gudalur,
and Ramachandran had to stop his squad.
The chief minister is reported to have assured Congress's leaders that
all those who had occupied the lands before 1978 would be given
pattas. But the Government now maintains that no such assurance was
given and are now observing the 1972 formula. The state next tried
evicting the encroachers through legal methods under the provisions of
the Land Encroachment Act but the settlers fought back with court
injunctions.
War-from past experience, the Government planned its present eviction
drive carefully. It first passed a bill on May 12 this year amending
the Forest Act to give it powers to summarily evict encroachers on
both forest and revenue land with only five days notice. It then
prepared a complete list of encroachers.
Meanwhile all the senior staff-the collector, revenue divisional
officer, tehsildar and the district forest officer-were transferred.
Three companies of the Tamil Nadu Special Police were posted at
Gudalur and on June 17 "Operation Eviction" began.
While houses were left untouched the crops were systematically
destroyed. Encroachers, who still stay in their houses, watch with
dismay as forest officials plant eucalyptus saplings which are
believed to absorb all the moisture in the soil rendering it useless
for other crops.
The success of the drive was also helped by the split in the political
parties. As the district is a Congress(I) bastion the party naturally
took it upon itself to champion the cause of the settlers. Although
the party boycotted the bandh called by other opposition parties and
kept out of a joint action council formed by the Opposition to stop
the evictions, it went ahead with its own programme of picketing and
fasts.
While the Congress(I) is insisting that 1978 should be the cut-off
date because Ramachandran had promised to give pattas to those who had
settled there before that date, the action council wants 1979 as the
cut-off just to be different and win the support of a few more
encroachers. But the Government is taking a firm stand and even the
monsoon, which has well and truly set in over Gudalur, is unlikely to
cool the heated tempers.
googleweblight.com/i?u=http% 3A%2F%2Findiatoday.intoday.in% 2Fstory%2Ffresh-confrontation- between-tamil-nadu-govt-and- encroachers-on-nilgiri-forest- lands%2F1%2F402282.html&grqid= gDsKb8I7&hl=en-IN
Land grabbing is a huge issue in Gudalur .25000 acres!! Tamils appear
to be dumb that this is not known as a big issue ever!
http://googleweblight.com/i?u=
%2F402282.html&grqid=gDsKb8I7&
But gudalur was not part of malabar district ever. This is factually wrong!
Fresh confrontation between Tamil Nadu govt and encroachers on Nilgiri
forest lands 15101981
googleweblight.com
V.S. Palaniappan
Many unresolved issues continued to remain a major poll plank, where
the two major Dravidian majors are locking horns over the battle of
ballots in Gudalur. The battle this time looks like AIADMK trying to
wrest the seat from the DMK.
Tucked in the lower reaches of the Nilgiris hills, Gudalur
constituency shares borders with Karnataka and Kerala. While the
Karnataka side is separated by two tiger reserves, the Kerala side
seems to be a major route for mutual business.
The major bone of contention for the electorate and a challenge for
the candidates is a solution to the Janmam lands issue. People seeking
patta for the lands are not able to get the same owing to an imbroglio
over Section 17 of the Janmam Ryotwari Act of 1972.
The Zamin lands during independence were nationalised by Kerala and
Karnataka under this Act and Revenue and Forest Departments there had
taken possession of the land, whereas Tamil Nadu failed to nationalise
these lands and lessees had moved the Supreme Court. The legal
stalemate on one side and a ban on issue of patta for the entire
Nilgiris continues to be a contentious issue.
“Engalukku mirugangalai rakshikinna sarcar vendam, engalukku makkalai
rakshikinna arasu thane venum” is the response of a group of
autorickshaw drivers at Gudalur – meaning - we want a government that
would protect human beings and not just the wildlife. In a conflict
situation, the priority of the State seems to be wildlife, they added.
Such is the impact of human – animal conflict in this region.
Presence of Janmam lands had resulted in forest remaining in 216
pockets and wildlife not having a migratory path to move to contiguous
forest areas. Nature enthusiasts wanting the Government to look beyond
politics want creation of a corridor for seven km with a width of 1.5
to 2 km for the migration of wildlife on the Mudumalai – Kerala
section. Frequent incidents of loss of human lives in conflicts had
turned the focus on Gudalur in the recent times and mitigations have
remained ad-hoc and there is a pertinent need for long term and
scientific solution to the issue, says T. Bhojan, a resident of
Nilgiris.
The constituency by virtue of its location has a mixed demographic
profile with Irular, Kurumba, Paniya and Kattu Naicker tribes being
the native ones, besides Sri Lankan repatriates, Keralites and Muslims
having a substantial presence.
The primary economy of the constituency largely depends on plantations
such as tea, coffee, ginger, pepper and cardamom. For some of the
plantation products i.e., spices, the cultivators are largely
dependant on Kerala for getting a remunerative price and marketing
avenue. The cultivators look for a marketing mechanism on the Tamil
Nadu side to escape from the clutches of cartels and syndicates
operating on the other side, says a plantation manager seeking
anonymity. They feel that pepper, cardamom and coffee were not getting
a remunerative price.
Land owners are sore that the enforcement mode of Tamil Nadu
Preservation of Private Forest Act was curtailing their entitled
rights over their land and expect a promise from the candidates to
revisit the same. Pattavayal, Pandalur, and Devala, which were known
as local Cherrapunji, are seeing a declining groundwater table.
But for roads, the constituency has not seen any major leap in terms
of infrastructure. The population still for their higher education and
health related needs are travelling to Kalpetta, Perunthalmanna and
Kozikode as the terrain makes the travel easy rather than making an
uphill travel to Udhagamandalam and then descend from there to
Coimbatore.
The seat that was won by the DMK five times, thrice by the AIADMK and
twice by the Congress is witnessing a keen contest between the
Dravidian majors namely sitting MLA M. Thiravidamani of DMK and S.
Kalaiselvan of AIADMK.
The CPI-M nominee P. Tamil Mani is giving the Dravidian majors a tough
time owing to the presence of a sizeable presence of workforce. Also
in the fray are B.M. Prasuram of BJP and Murugesh of PMK.
www.thehindu.com/news/
Fresh confrontation between Tamil Nadu govt and encroachers on Nilgiri
forest lands
Raj Chengappa Thursday, October 31, 2013
Text resize
Gudalur, a picturesque taluk in the foothills of Tamil Nadu's
cloud-capped Nilgiri mountains, is all set for a fresh confrontation
in the hard-fought 10-year-old battle between the state Government and
encroachers on the district's forest and revenue lands.
While the state Government is keen on evicting settlers who have
encroached on 25,000 acres after 1972, the 7,000 affected families are
demanding that those of them who had come before 1978 should be given
pattas (title deeds) for the lands.
On September 13 the Government resumed its massive drive to evict
encroachers according to its 1972 formula which it had stopped on
August 19 following a storm of protest by Opposition parties
spearheaded by the Congress (I). In mid-June the AIADMK Chief Minister
M. G. Ramachandran had launched "Operation Eviction". Around 450
families were evicted and crops grown on 960 acres of forest land were
destroyed.
But after a Gudalur bandh was called on June 25, in which 57 persons
were arrested for indulging in violence and Congress (I) leaders began
a simultaneous fast in Madras and Gudalur, Ramachandran cleverly
suspended the eviction drive, two days before the legislature met, to
avoid the expected barrage of criticism from opposition parties.
The chief minister had promised to appoint to top official to study
the situation but when the heat was off he gave the green signal to
the eviction squad consisting of three companies of special police and
a host of forest officials to go ahead with the drive. So far 30 more
families have been evicted.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Home Minister Zail Singh asked
Ramachandran to send a report on eviction. Sensing that the eviction
drive would be resumed the State Congress (I) party convened a
Nilgiris
District Congress (I) Committee meeting on September 12 and 13 at
Ooty, the district headquarters, 50 kilometres from Gudalur, to chalk
out their strategy. Threatened K. Baby, DCC(I) secretary, "There will
soon be a massive agitation worse than the previous one."
Forest officials destroying crops and planting eucalyptus saplings
Peculiar History: The peculiar history of Gudalur has made the problem
all the more complex and delicate. Wedged between Kerala and
Karnataka, Gudalur was formerly part of the old Malabar district of
the Madras Presidency. When the states were reorganised in 1956
Malabar, minus Gudalur, was ceded to Kerala.
The taluk was attached to the newly formed Nilgiris district
consisting of Ooty and Coonoor. Being a border taluk, its 1,52,000
population (1971 census) is a strange cocktail of Malayalees,
Tamilians and Kannadigas. Recently, the Malayalee population increased
to an estimated 70 per cent and Gudalur now resembles a Kerala town
and Malayalam has become the lingua franca.
Although the Tamil Nadu Government will not admit it, the influx of
Malayalees in recent years has been one of the major reasons for the
eviction drives. In fact, of the 7,000 affected families, Baby himself
admits that 5,000 are Malayalees, 1,000 are Tamils and the rest
Kannadigas. Sri Lanka repatriates have also started encroaching on the
lands.
The Government fears that if the Malayalee inflow is not halted they
may soon demand that Gudalur be ceded to Kerala as the border is
hardly 20 km away. While denying there is any Malayalee secessionist
move, A.J. Joseph, a Malayalee advocate and Janata Party leader, said:
"The Government's determined eviction drive is suspect as most of it
is directed against us."
Even Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar showed his concern by sending
two top revenue board officials to Ooty recently to hold talks with
their counterparts in Tamil Nadu. They were reassured that there was
no discrimination against any particular section of encroachers.
MGR : Bent on removing encroachers
Takeover: But the Gudalur problem is more complex than simple
regionalism. Its origin goes back to the Gudalur Janman Estates
(Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act of 1969. The Act was
passed to take possession of 85,000 acres of forest land owned by the
Nilambur Kovilagam of neighbouring Kerala. Out of these 85,000 acres
the Nilambur raja had leased out 60,000 acres to big plantations and
the remaining 25,000 acres were cultivated either by tenants or
squatters.
Under the Janman Abolition Act the Government classified the occupants
of the land into three groups:
Planters who had taken the land on long-term lease; Tenants who were
recognised by the erst while owner receipts for rents paid to them
Trespassers and encroachers.
Under Section 17 of the Act the Government was empowered to terminate
the lease agreements of plantations and pay compensation. Sections 8
and 9 of the Act decreeing that all the tenants would receive pattas
was pushed through smoothly.
The real problem arose in dealing with encroachers. Under Section 10,
the Government was empowered to issue a patta to those who could prove
that they had cultivated the land for a continuous period of three
agricultural years immediately before June 1, 1969.
Unfortunately, the Act could be implemented only after 1974 when the
High Court finally rejected the claims of the Nilambur family who had
contested the Act. By then the number of encroachers had risen from 5,
000 to 9, 000 complicating the entire issue. Officials say that during
the five years the case was in court, the land-grab movement began,
along with one of the biggest land rackets ever to hit Tamil Nadu.
Officials speak of the deals only in hushed tones and are unwilling to
be quoted. The technique, they reveal, was deliciously simple. Knowing
that the land was under dispute, hordes of land-hungry cultivators
from Kerala encroached upon it.
The land-grabber did not come so much for the rich, fertile soil but
to cut the dense forests for timber and clandestinely sell it,
naturally greasing the palms of forest officials. The proof of their
deals can be seen today in Gudalur taluk: almost all the shola (dense)
forests have disappeared leaving behind only stumps as ghostly
reminders of the devastation wrought by these unscrupulous
businessmen.
Not satisfied with earnings from timber, the land-grabbers would start
coffee, cardamom, ginger, tapioca or lemon grass plantations on the
cleared land and then sell it to landless people promising that the
lands would be regularised by the Government soon.
After that they would move on to other areas and start the whole
process again. As a result, the real exploiters who became rich
overnight are not affected by the eviction drive; it is the gullible
poor who purchased plantations from them who are facing the crunch.
A settler views the end of his labours: The gullible suffered
Vain Attempts: The Government's eviction drives, except for the recent
one, have been dismal failures. In 1972 when the then chief minister
M. Karunanidhi tried his hand at it, the settlers went on a rampage
destroying Forest Department nurseries and plantations.
They were supported by political parties in Kerala, and Father
Vaddakan of the Karshaka Thozhilali Paity even undertook an indefinite
fast. Karunanidhi stopped the evictions and reportedly agreed to give
pattas for a maximum of three acres to those who had occupied the land
before 1972. So far 6,000 pattas have been issued but settlers
complain that unless officials are tipped heavily they never get to
see their pattas.
In 1978 Chief Minister Ramachandran launched another eviction drive.
However, after some 100 families were evicted Louis Thuruthy, the
Machikoli village branch president of the Congress(I), committed
self-immolation in front of the Revenue Divisional Office in Gudalur,
and Ramachandran had to stop his squad.
The chief minister is reported to have assured Congress's leaders that
all those who had occupied the lands before 1978 would be given
pattas. But the Government now maintains that no such assurance was
given and are now observing the 1972 formula. The state next tried
evicting the encroachers through legal methods under the provisions of
the Land Encroachment Act but the settlers fought back with court
injunctions.
War-from past experience, the Government planned its present eviction
drive carefully. It first passed a bill on May 12 this year amending
the Forest Act to give it powers to summarily evict encroachers on
both forest and revenue land with only five days notice. It then
prepared a complete list of encroachers.
Meanwhile all the senior staff-the collector, revenue divisional
officer, tehsildar and the district forest officer-were transferred.
Three companies of the Tamil Nadu Special Police were posted at
Gudalur and on June 17 "Operation Eviction" began.
While houses were left untouched the crops were systematically
destroyed. Encroachers, who still stay in their houses, watch with
dismay as forest officials plant eucalyptus saplings which are
believed to absorb all the moisture in the soil rendering it useless
for other crops.
The success of the drive was also helped by the split in the political
parties. As the district is a Congress(I) bastion the party naturally
took it upon itself to champion the cause of the settlers. Although
the party boycotted the bandh called by other opposition parties and
kept out of a joint action council formed by the Opposition to stop
the evictions, it went ahead with its own programme of picketing and
fasts.
While the Congress(I) is insisting that 1978 should be the cut-off
date because Ramachandran had promised to give pattas to those who had
settled there before that date, the action council wants 1979 as the
cut-off just to be different and win the support of a few more
encroachers. But the Government is taking a firm stand and even the
monsoon, which has well and truly set in over Gudalur, is unlikely to
cool the heated tempers.
googleweblight.com/i?u=http%
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கருத்துரையிடுக