Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) spearheading the cause of forest-dwelling tribals living in and around Mysuru district have urged the State Government to take measures for the rehabilitation of 3,418 tribal families failing which they have threatened to approach the court.
The crux of the issue revolves around an order of the High Court of Karnataka delivered more than 7 years ago in which it directed the State to rehabilitate the 3,418 tribal families who were displaced or suffered injustice during the implementation of various development projects.
Though the NGOs have time and again approached the Government to implement the court orders, their plea has been greeted with a deafening silence so far.
In the latest salvo fired by Development through Education (DEED) and Budakattu Krishikara Sangha (BKS), it was pointed out that the attention of the Chief Minister, the Governor, the local MLAs and the chief secretary of the State was drawn four times in 2021 alone and yet there has been no meaningful progress.
Hence the NGOs have cautioned that in case the Government failed to expedite the process, they will file contempt proceedings against the State Government and the administrative machinery in their quest for justice.
S. Sreekanth of DEED and P.K. Ramu of BKS said that though the senior officials in the Revenue Department have averred that a committee has been constituted to draw the action plan for rehabilitation, nothing concrete has emerged so far.
In the interim period, the NGOs have also submitted another list of 1,500 families from 32 hamlets in Hunsur taluk who were displaced but their names were left out of beneficiaries drafted by a committee constituted by the High Court.
Suspecting the intentions and seriousness of the Government in taking up the implementation works, the NGOs pointed out that the then Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru, D. Randeep had submitted a report to the Government regarding tribal rehabilitation. But the Government has since vested the responsibility with the regional commissioner with a direction to study the process afresh, according to the NGOs and alleged that the Government was only delaying the rehabilitation exercise.
Mr. Sreekanth said that a report to provide a package under which each family would receive ₹15 lakh apart from 5 acres of land was submitted in 2014 as part of the rehabilitation work. But the Government ignored it and was calling for a fresh approach to study the rehabilitation package which amounted to further delaying the implementation, the NGOs alleged.
