A group of armed persons, suspected to be Maoists, vandalised the office of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) at Kambamala, near Thalappuzha, in Wayanad district on September 28 noon.
As many as six armed persons barged into the office and broke the glass door panels of the reception counter of the office, according to KFDC officials.
They destroyed furniture, computers, a photocopy machine, a printer, and a phone kept at the reception counter. The group fled after sticking posters demanding that better houses be provided to the workers of the Kambamala tea estate plantation, the officials said.
They shouted slogans demanding better houses for the estate workers who are reportedly living under asbestos sheds. Posters in Malayalam and Tamil on behalf of the CPI(Maoist) Kabani area committee read: ‘Distribute plantations to landless workers and tribal people, join the armed rebellion to escape from the wretched lives in the estate lanes to be an owner of plantations.”
At the time of the incident, an office manager and a worker were at the office. However, the armed group, which spoke in Tamil, did not harm the officials.
The police attached to the Thalappuzha and Mananthavady stations conducted a quick search in the area.
The Kambamala tea estate, bordering Kottiyoor and Periya forest ranges in Wayanad and Kannur districts respectively, was started in the 1970s to rehabilitate repatriates from Sri Lanka. Close to 200 refugee families have been staying in the estate.
