Maoist violence: ST panel urges Centre, States to submit detailed report on status of Gotti Koya tribals

National Commission for Scheduled Tribes seeks detailed report on Gotti Koya tribals displaced from Chhattisgarh due to Maoist violence.

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 Gotti Koya 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 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 on Friday (November 8, 2024), the Commission said it had received a petition in March 2022 stating that members of the Gotti Koya 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. 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. On November 7, 2022, the Commission issued a notice to the district magistrate of Bhadradri Kothagudem in Telangana, seeking an action taken report or compliance report on the matter.

In a report submitted on September 9, 2023, the district magistrate denied the allegations against forest officials, arguing that the Gotti Koyas were encroaching on forest land, impacting forest resources and causing "irreparable damage to the environment and ecological balance, which could lead to natural calamities".