Four Muthuvan tribal men from Idukki district have been allegedly ostracised by Oorukoottam (council of tribals) for allegedly violating its decision.
The four, residents of the Chempakathozhu Kudi and Pachappul Kudi tribal hamlets in Chinnakkanal grama panchayat, have allegedly been ostracised since a meeting of the tribal heads on August 16. The action against them has been taken as they attended a protest march in Thiruvananthapuram demanding that the wild tusker locally called Arikompan that has been translocated from Chinnakkanal to Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) be brought back.
Chempakathozhu Kudi resident Palraj, his son Anandaraj, Mohanan, and Pachappul Kudi resident Muthukumar attended an animal lovers’ protest march held in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on August 15. The tribal heads’ meeting observed that the people worked against the interests of the tribal community and hence decided to ostracise the families.
Mr. Anandaraj said that their only aim was to ensure that no more elephant was captured from Chinnakkanal. “Wild elephants are part of our life. Earlier, an animal lovers’ group approached us and collected signs for filing a plea before the High Court demanding that Arikompan be returned to Chinnakanal. But tribal and local people are alleging that we are working against the interests of the local people and the tribes in the settlement. They are also alleging that our intervention resulted in a ban on boating in the Anayirankal dam and the High Court panel’s recommendation to ban off-road jeep safari in Kolukkumalai,” said Mr. Anandaraj.
“We have agreed to apologise before the tribal heads, but they have refused it,” he said.
According to tribal leaders, “people facing Ooruvilakku and their families are banned from interacting with other members of the community. They will have no right to take drinking water and are not allowed to attend functions, including funerals.”
‘No info yet’
Chinnakkanal grama panchayat president Sini Baby said that the panchayat had not yet received any information about the ostracism of tribal people from the settlement. “Earlier a group of animal lovers approached some tribespeople in the settlement and collected signs for a petition demanding to bring back tusker Arikompan. Later a meeting of the tribal heads directed the members not to cooperate with the animal lovers’ group. We received information that four tribal members violated the direction and attended the a protest march organised by the group in Thiruvananthapuram,” said Ms. Baby.
The wild tusker which used to raid houses and shops at Santhanpara and Chinnakkanal grama panchayats in Idukki for rice was captured on April 29 and translocated to the Periyar Tiger Reserve on April 30. Later, the Tamil Nadu Forest department captured the tusker and released it to the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
