In yet another case of the O’Valley town panchayat attempting to violate Supreme Court orders which prohibit building infrastructure to benefit non-Adivasi residents, attempts were made early on Monday (November 27, 2023) morning by the panchayat to begin construction of a road between J.J. Nagar and Anna Nagar.
The project, which has been sanctioned at a cost of ₹3.14 crores will benefit 10 small settlements in O’Valley, mostly inhabited by encroachers and settlers from Kerala, allege local activists who raised the issue with the district administration.
Earlier this month, more development work, including the construction of a park as well as another road between Periyashola and Mangamaram was stopped by the Revenue Divisional Officer (Gudalur), after he was informed of the work being undertaken. The Supreme Court had directed the Nilgiris district collector to ensure “that road, footpath, electricity line and other like facilities, now proposed to be provided to the tribal hamlets, are not made available to the illegal occupants of the janmam lands…”
Almost the entirety of O’Valley and its human habitations have been constructed on “unsettled” Section 17 lands, classified under the Gudalur Janman Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act. The area serves as a crucial elephant habitat and corridor, linking the Sathyamangalam-Mudumalai-Bandipur complex with Nilambur and New Amarambalam Wildlife Sanctuaries in Kerala. Over the last few years, negative human-elephant interactions in the region, which conservationists say are being exacerbated by an increasing number of encroachments, have led to the deaths of a number of people.
Conservationists say that due to the “unsettled” nature of the lands, encroachers continue to settle within O’Valley, building houses as well as farming large tracts of land, leading to the escalation of negative human-elephant interactions in the region and a constriction of the elephant corridor. They also say that poachers are increasingly using the area and are settling in O’Valley, with a number of poaching cases being detected by the Forest Department over the last few years.
When contacted, District Revenue Officer, Keerthi Priyadarshini, said that she had directed the local RDO, Mohammed Kuthurathulla, to inspect the site. “As it was found that the road will not benefit any Adivasi residents, orders have been issued to stop the work,” said Ms. Priyadarshini.
Mr. Kuthurathulla said that the O’Valley town panchayat’s Executive Officer has been directed to notify him before starting any infrastructure development works in the area in the future.
