ST panel asks adjoining states to collect data on tribals displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violence
ST panel asks adjoining states to collect data on tribals displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violence
New Delhi, The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has asked the governments of Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha to conduct surveys to determine the exact number of tribal people who were displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violence and are now living in difficult conditions in neighbouring states.
At a meeting on January 8, officials from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh told the NCST that they did not have reliable data on the tribal people who migrated from Chhattisgarh to their states in 2005 due to left-wing extremism.
The panel said it is important to identify the number of displaced tribal people and their locations in these states to decide the next course of action.
The NCST has asked the Chhattisgarh government to appoint a nodal officer to coordinate with the governments of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra to carry out these surveys.
"After receiving the data from these states, the Chhattisgarh government may compile a consolidated report and submit it to the NCST for further action," the panel said.
The commission received a petition in March 2022, stating that members of the Gottikoya community, who fled Chhattisgarh in 2005 to escape violence between "Maoist guerrillas and Indian security forces", are facing serious difficulties in their new locations.
Tribal rights activists, who have repeatedly raised the issue with the NCST and the Union tribal affairs ministry, estimate that about 50,000 tribals were displaced from Chhattisgarh due to left-wing extremism. They are now living in 248 settlements in the forests of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra.
Some reports claim that the Telangana government has taken back land from internally displaced people in at least 75 settlements, putting their livelihoods at risk and making them more vulnerable, the commission said, citing the petition.
There are also allegations that forest department officials demolished the homes of IDPs and destroyed their crops.
On November 7, 2022, the commission issued a notice to the district magistrate of Bhadradri Kothagudem in Telangana, asking for an action taken report on the matter.
In a report submitted on September 9, 2023, the district magistrate denied the allegations against forest officials.
He said the Gottikoyas were encroaching on forest land, which was harming forest resources and causing irreparable damage to the environment and ecological balance, which could lead to natural calamities.
The magistrate also said that since all Gottikoyas had migrated from Chhattisgarh, they do not qualify as Scheduled Tribes in Telangana and are therefore not eligible for forest rights in the state.
In July last year, the government informed Parliament that tribal families displaced from Chhattisgarh due to left-wing extremism were unwilling to return, despite available rehabilitation schemes and security measures.
Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey had told Rajya Sabha that the Chhattisgarh government had formed teams to conduct surveys in the neighbouring districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to identify displaced tribal families.
He said 10,489 tribal individuals from 2,389 families were displaced from the districts of Sukma, Bijapur, and Dantewada due to left-wing extremism.
They include 9,702 people from Sukma, 579 from Bijapur, and 208 from Dantewada, Uikey added.
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