NCST asks Chhattisgarh to prepare rehab plan for tribals displaced due to Maoist violence

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has asked the Chhattisgarh government to prepare a "detailed strategy to bring back" tribal people displaced from the state due to Maoist violence and now reportedly living in difficult conditions in neighbouring states.

In a meeting on September 8, members of Valasa Adhivasula Samaikya, an organisation working for the rehabilitation of internally displaced people (IDPs), told the NCST that a survey they conducted in 283 unrecognised villages of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana found 9,651 displaced families (around 48,300 people) residing in the two states.

However, the Scheduled Castes Development Department of Chhattisgarh informed the NCST in July that its survey teams had identified 3,335 families (14,159 members) who had migrated to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh from Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur districts.

No displaced families were reported in Odisha and Maharashtra, the Chhattisgarh government told the Commission.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had earlier informed the NCST that their surveys showed around 23,500 and 8,500 Gottikoya people, respectively, living in their states.

In the September 8 meeting, the NCST directed Valasa, the petitioner, to share its survey data with the Chhattisgarh government and asked the latter to "recheck" the numbers.

The Commission also advised Chhattisgarh to frame a "detailed strategy" for the return of displaced tribal people affected by "violence between Maoist guerrillas and Indian security forces".

"Without such a strategy, no person will be willing to return to the state," the NCST observed.

It recommended that the plan cover land for agriculture and housing, employment, health and other developmental needs. The Commission stressed that displaced families should be given at least five acres of land, livelihood support, PMAY housing, community certificates and ration.

"The minimum development infrastructure like primary schools, primary health centres, anganwadi centres, electricity and drinking water may be ensured in the habitations," the minutes of the meeting read.

The Commission further said the matter should be brought to the notice of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs for policy measures to address the issue.

The NCST had received a petition from Valasa in March 2022, which stated that members of the Gottikoya community had fled Chhattisgarh in 2005 to escape Maoist-related violence and have since faced serious challenges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

According to reports, the Telangana government has taken back land from internally displaced families in at least 75 settlements, jeopardising their livelihoods. There are also allegations that forest officials demolished homes and destroyed crops of displaced people.

Telangana authorities earlier told the NCST that the Gottikoyas were encroaching on forest land, depleting resources and causing "irreparable damage to the environment and ecological balance, which could lead to natural calamities".

The state also said that since all Gottikoyas had migrated from Chhattisgarh, they do not qualify as Scheduled Tribes in Telangana and are therefore ineligible for forest rights.

In its latest directions, the NCST asked authorities to explore whether IDPs in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states could be given land titles under Section 3(1)(m) of the Forest Rights Act.

Social activist Shubhranshu Chaudhary said the IDPs should first be recognised as victims of a conflict that is nearing its end.

"We fear that once the conflict is over these victims will be forgotten forever," he said.

He recalled that the Union Home Ministry had rehabilitated Bru tribals from Mizoram, who faced a similar situation in Tripura, in 2019'“20. "These Gond tribals can be rehabilitated in the same way through a special rehabilitation plan," he added.

Chaudhary also suggested that the Centre could invoke Section 3(1)(m) of the FRA to regularise forest land occupied by displaced families in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in exchange for vacated forest land in Chhattisgarh.

"Ownership of land can give them citizenship rights, and other entitlements like recognition as tribals can follow," he said. PTI GVS ZMN