Karnataka - Hassan   

Govt. urged to issue `pattas' to tribal people

By Our Staff Correspondent

HASSAN, JULY 18. The Kudremukh Rashtriya Udyana Virodhi Okkuta (KRUVO) has decided to stage a demonstration in front of the Chief Minister's residence on July 24 demanding immediate issue of "pattas" (title deeds) to the tribal people.

According to the Okkuta, the Government had complicated the rehabilitation issue by forwarding the package prepared by the Forest Department to the Union Government.

The Government vitiated the problem by submitting the package that had amplified the apprehension of eviction among the tribal community, the president of the Okkuta, Kalkuli Vittal Hegde, said. "The Government, which promised earlier of not evicting the tribal people has changed its stand now by claiming that there will be no `forcible' eviction," he said.

Mr. Hegde also said that though the Government had promised to take up development programmes in Kudremukh National Park area, nothing had been done.

Recently, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) State Committee placed seven demands.

The demands included scrapping of the package announced by the Government for Kudremukh National Park area, withdrawal of combing operation against Naxals by the police, disbanding programmes that force eviction of people from Someshwara and Mookambika Wild Life Sanctuaries and adjoining reserve forests.

A press release from CPI (M-L) State Committee said that the Government had not conceded their demands.

Sources in the CPI (M-L) said that as a general policy, they were not averse to talks but said that the Government had to create a conducive atmosphere by implementing their demands.

Legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Chikmagalur, Shimoga and Dakshina Kannada districts are forming a group to raise the issue in the coming Assembly session, commencing on Monday.

C.T. Ravi (Chikamagalur), Sunil Kumar (Karkala), Kumaraswamy (Moodigere), Aaragada Jnanendra (Thirthahalli), Sreenivasa Shetty (Kundapur), Jeevaraj (Sringeri) and Prabhakare Bangera (Belthangadi) have formed a core group to contain the influence of naxals in the three districts, according to sources in the BJP.

In a meting held recently, the MLAs of the three districts, leaders of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Bajarang Dal in Hassan took objection to the decision of the Government to hold talks with the naxal groups.

The meeting, which sought a ban on the organisations supporting the naxal movement, cautioned that any talks with them would demoralise the police force that was combating the naxal activities.

The members who attended the meeting concluded that the Government was responsible for the growing influence of the naxals in the Malnad region.

According to sources, a meeting of the seven MLAs would be held in Chikmagalur on July 25 to counter the strategies of the People's War.

The party had resolved to pressure the Government against holding talks with naxals.

They said that the opposition would raise the issue in the legislature session.

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