Displaced Malekudiya families to get Rs. 10 lakh

Mangalore, March 6: Each family of the Malekudiyas displaced from the Kudremukh National Park will get Rs. 10 lakh. They will also get land, including those without “pattas”, said Subodh Yadav, Dakshina Kannada District Deputy Commissioner.

He was speaking at a UGC-sponsored workshop titled “Malekudias in transition: a survey cum study” in Canara First Grade College in the city on Saturday. A team of 13 students, part of the Socio-cultural Research and Study Centre (SCRCT) of the college, had studied the issue and organised the meet.

Mr. Yadav said, “We had a meeting and have decided to give Rs.10 lakh to each family. We are also discussing how we should decide who deserves more or less than Rs.10 lakh. Even if they come out of the forest, they do not get land. So we have decided they should get land, including those who do not have a patta.” N. Yogish Bhat, MLA and Deputy Speaker in the Assembly, said that methods must be thought of how the Centre and the State could work jointly to ensure that all the Malekudia families get their compensation. Of the 420 affected families, 12 had been compensated.

Mr. Bhat said the college must make a similar study on the Kudubis, who were in a similarly fashion. Vasanthi, a Malekudia activist, said Rs.10 lakh compensation was inadequate. Malekudias were born and had grown up in the forests and now they had to fight for their rights. Because their occupation had been only agriculture, the community members had no money, she said. Elyanna K, member, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF), said that people displaced by SEZ projects were given several facilities but the Malekudias had got nothing.