Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to allot nearly 4000 acres of land near Jannaram town to residents belonging to Allinagar and Dongapally villages.
The villagers in question were supposed to be relocated as per the (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh) state government’s letter dated on August 13, 1997. The residents were to be moved out of Allinagar and Dongapally as the land of both villages were covered under the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1965 and was declared as a protected area in 1992 under the Wildlife (Protection) Act established in the same year.
“Allinagar and Dongapally villages were covered under the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary. As such, the villagers, belonging to Gond and Nayakpod (scheduled tribe communities) were not allowed to stay in the villages,” Karthik Navayan, lawyer for the villagers explained.
Further, with Kawal being declared a forest reserve, the tribals were living among poisonous snakes and tigers and hence made several representations to the authorities seeking a shift. Except for one letter dated on 14 November 2009 to the district collector of Adilabad, the state had made no efforts to shift the villagers, leaving them in dire straits.
Navayan further told Siasat.com that the proposal to shift the villagers was pending from the last 30 years. Further, the land near Jannaram town was allotted by the state government to non-tribals and as such is “arbitrary and in violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.”
The High Court considering the difficulties faced by the villagers and the several representations made to the authorities to allot the Mahasura Poramboku Land near Jannaram to habitants of Allinagar and Dongapally alone. The state government is supposed to decide on the date of shifting the villagers in the next four months as per the order of the court.
