THE National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has asked the Union Home Ministry and Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha to submit a detailed report on the status of the Gottikoya tribals, who were displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violenceandare nowreportedlylivinginneighbouringstates indifficult conditions, excluded from social security benefits.

 

The Commission has requested the presence of the Home Ministry’sSecretaryandthechief secretaries of the States concerned at a meeting scheduled for December 9 to discuss the issue, recommending a prompt policy decision to provide necessary support to the community.InalettersenttotheMinistry and the States on Friday, the Commissionsaidithadreceived a petition in March 2022 stating that members of the Gottikoya community, who had relocated from Chhattisgarh to neighbouring states in 2005 to escape “violence between Maoist guerrillasandIndiansecurityforces”, havebeenfacingsignificantchallenges in their new locations. According to tribal rights activists who have repeatedly raised the issue with the Commission and the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, an estimated 50,000 tribals were displacedfromChhattisgarhdueto Left-Wing Extremism.

 

They now live in 248 settlements in the forests of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. Accordingtosomereports,the Telangana government has takenbacklandfrominternallydisplaced persons (IDPs)in at least 75settlements,jeopardisingtheir livelihoods and increasing their vulnerability, the Commission said, citing the petition. Some reports also allege that forest departmentofficialsdemolished the homes of the IDPs and destroyed their crops. On November 7, 2022, the Commissionissuedanoticetothe District Magistrate of Bhadradri KothagudeminTelangana, seekinganactiontakenreportorcompliance report on the matter.

 

In a report submitted on September 9, 2023, the district magistratedeniedtheallegations against forest officials, arguing that the Gottikoyas were encroaching on forest land, impacting forest resources and causing “irreparable damage to the environment and ecological balance,whichcouldlead to natural calamities”. The magistrate added that since all the Gottikoyas had migrated from Chhattisgarh,they do not qualify as Scheduled Tribes in Telangana and are, therefore, ineligible for forest rights in the State. The Commission helda meeting with the district magistrate of Bhadradri Kothagudem on September 24 to discuss the matter in detail.