Contravening the Supreme Court’s directions to the Nilgiris district administration to ensure that basic amenities such as roads are only made available to adivasi residents in unsettled janmam lands in Gudalur, the O’Valley town panchayat has not only turned a blind eye towards illegal constructions by private residents, but has also sanctioned the construction of roads and even a park in a crucial elephant habitat.
In its order, the Supreme Court had directed the District Collector, the Nilgiris, to “ensure that road, footpath, electricity line and other like facilities, now proposed to be provided to the tribal hamlets, are not made available to the illegal occupants of the janmam lands…”
However, in O’Valley, a crucial elephant corridor rife with negative human-elephant interactions caused by numerous encroachments, the Executive Officer of the panchayat has not only overlooked a number of illegal roads, footpath and building constructions by encroachers living in the area, but has also sanctioned the construction of a road as well as a park.
The private constructions as well as the road measuring 4 km between Periyashola to Mangamaram, and a park near the Sandanamalai Murugan temple are being constructed in “unsettled” Section 17 lands, classified under the Gudalur Janman Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act.
In the 1970s, noted conservationist E.R.C. Davidar, highlighted how the Gudalur plateau, a key corridor for elephants passing from Mudumalai to Kerala, was occupied by around 1,200 hectares of plantations at the time. “A distinct form of land tenure known as janmum [sic] tenure, which applied to a third of the area has been another unsettling factor. Litigation over the enactment [of the act] has been dragging on. Taking advantage of this unsettled situation, large-scale forced occupation of janmam lands has been taking place. It has become a free-for-all where profits were high, except for wildlife,” Mr. Davidar wrote.
He said that to restore habitat connectivity between Mudumalai, O’Valley, Nilambur and New Amarambalam will be a challenge due to squatters occupying both sides of the Pandiar river and its tributaries and due to the presence of estates and estate housing.
Since then, the problems have only gotten worse, with both the revenue and forest departments pointing the finger at each other, expressing their inability to prevent the further degradation of the corridor.
When contacted, District Forest Officer (Gudalur Division), Kommu Omkaram, said he had highlighted the numerous constructions taking place in O’Valley to the District Collector and had asked for all illegal projects and development activities being undertaken on Section 17 lands to be stopped immediately.
“The forest department faces the ire of local residents when attempts are made to stop illegal constructions. Unless we receive the support of the revenue department, it is difficult to stop these activities as such interventions could lead to law and order problems,” said another top State forest department official, speaking to The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
Nilgiris Collector M. Aruna, District Revenue Officer Keerthi Priyadarshini and the Executive Officer of the O’Valley town panchayat did not respond to questions as to how sanction was granted for the road as well as park that is being constructed by the panchayat.
Revenue Divisional Officer (Gudalur) Mohammed Kuthurathulla said he was unaware of the construction and would visit the spots at a later date. He then said following the tip-off, panchayat had been told to stop constructions in O’Valley, including the road as well as the park. “I will also visit the spot and take necessary action,” he said.
