Overview

• On June 18, forest department teams led by ACF Ananya Kumar removed six recently built shelters in the Attur Kolli area after serving notices to vacate the protected reserve
• Tribal families first entered the site on May 5 and set up initial huts, but a Sub-Division Level Committee rejected their forest rights petitions on May 22
• Officials said surveys and documents showed no evidence of habitation before the December 2005 cutoff required by the Forest Rights Act, a key factor in the committee’s decision
• When families blocked entry by forest and police personnel, officers accessed the site via an alternate route under police escort to carry out the demolitions
• JA Shivu and other tribal rights leaders insist their communities have ancestral ties to the land and plan legal appeals and protests to secure recognition under the act