At a meeting held at the office of the Deputy Director Srivilliputtur Megamalai Tiger Reserve’s office, farmers and tribespeople wanted the check-post staffs to be lenient and not to humiliate or harass them under the pretext of checks on Tuesday.
The meeting was convened to hear the grievances of the people in the region. Deputy Director Vivek Kumar Yadav, District Forest Officer Kiran and others participated.
The members said that the check-post personnel at the Manjanoothu and Agamalai, were harsh and restricted even the basic goods carried by them. “We have been using the pathway for long years and that we are no strangers to the area,” they claimed.
The members also alleged that the personnel were rude and questioned when some relatives came to our habitation.
Intervening, the officials said that persons with patta land would not be questioned. With regard to transporting materials – be it farm items or others, they should cooperate with the staff and enter the details in the book at the check-posts.
The officials assured that the personnel would not be rude, while they suggested the user public to cooperate with the staff and maintain that only authorised persons entered the reserve forest.
The farmers raised the issue of evicting them from the RF area citing the apex court order and wanted to know if the authorities showed equal interest in implementing the SC order on increasing the storage level at the Mullaperiyar dam.
They also asked if there were tigers in the region as claimed by the officials, who maintained that there were indeed 22 tigers and which was the reason that they clamped restriction on movements.
However, the farmers said that many villagers owned horses, ponies and other domestic animals. In the recent times, they said, “we have not heard of any tiger attack on these animals…. but only in interior places like Munnar.”
The officials said that for medical emergencies and other urgent needs, the forest personnel would be lenient, but insisted that others (relatives or friends) should obtain prior permission before entering the habitations.
Published – October 13, 2026 08:35 pm IST
