New Delhi: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has asked four states, including Odisha, and the Union Home Ministry to submit a detailed report on the status of the Gottikoya tribals, who were displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violence and are now reportedly living in neighbouring states in difficult conditions, excluded from social security benefits. The other three states include Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The Commission has requested the presence of the Home Ministry’s secretary and the chief 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.
In a letter sent to the ministry and the states Friday, the Commission said it had received 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 guerrillas and Indian security forces”, have been facing significant challenges 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 displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). They now live in 248 settlements in the forests of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. According to some reports, the Telangana government has taken back land from internally displaced persons (IDPs) in at least 75 settlements, jeopardising their livelihoods and increasing their vulnerability, the Commission said, citing the petition. Some reports also allege that Forest department officials demolished the homes of the IDPs and destroyed their crops.
