State told to restore alienated tribal lands

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 5. The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Mr. Jual Oram, said here on Friday that he had directed the State Government to restore alienated tribal lands.

The Minister told presspersons that there were constitutional provisions requiring the State Government to restore alienated tribal lands. Any political problems in this respect should be addressed by the State Government.

Mr. Oram said that several States, including BJP- ruled States, had restored alienated lands of tribals. Across the country, there were 19 lakh such cases. Of these, restoration had been effected in four lakh cases.

He said that whatever be the political problems in restoration of the alienated lands, the transfer of tribal lands without clearance from the designated authority was illegal. Hence, the land should be restored. The Government should hold discussions with the settlers and tribals, if necessary.

The Minister said that he was sympathetic towards the tribals who are agitating before the Secretariat for land and employment by setting up `refugee camps'. It would not be fair to remove their camps unless there is a law and order problem.

He hoped that the Government would not do anything to dismantle their camps if the agitation remained peaceful. He had no information of naxalite connection of the agitating tribals, the Minister said. His advice to the agitating tribals was to sit with the Government for the settlement of their grievances and cause no law and order problems.

He said the Central Government was prepared to give assistance to the State Government for rehabilitation of the tribals. However, assistance would not be given to any plan to regularise illegal transactions in tribal lands.

The Union Minister said that he had reviewed the use of funds by the State Government during the conference he had with the State Minister for Scheduled Castes and Tribes Development, Dr. M.A. Kuttappan, and officials here.

The State Government, Mr. Oram said, had not used considerable sums of Central assistance available for vocational training, running of tribal hostels and tribal cooperatives. More money would be released if the Government furnished utilisation certificates. The State had submitted a proposal for special Central assistance of Rs. 20 crores. This was found to be not in order. The assistance would be sanctioned when the State Government submits a revised proposal.

Already, the Government had sanctioned a grant-in-aid of Rs. 11.7 crores under Article 277 of the Constitution. The allocation to the State under Tribal Sub Plan was Rs. 62 crores. The State was to contribute a minimum of two per cent of the costs for projects under the Sub-Plan.

The State Minister, Dr. M. A. Kuttappan, and officials were also present at the press conference.

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Section  : Southern States
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