Thengumarahada residents in a limbo as relocation process drags on

More than a year after the Madras High Court ordered the relocation of 495 families from the village of Thengumarahada in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), the residents are stuck in a limbo after funds for the relocation process have failed to materialise.

In 2023, the Madras High Court ordered the relocation of 495 families from the village of Thengumarahada in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR). More than a year after the orders were passed, the residents are stuck in a limbo after funds for the relocation process have failed to materialise.

Residents from the village, a majority of whom have agreed to move out from the ecologically-sensitive region in exchange for a compensation package, have stated that since the order, there has been almost no development works in the village.

B. Iruthayaraj, former president of Thengumarahada village panchayat, told The Hindu that residents cannot even maintain their houses as they are reluctant to invest large sums of money on houses they soon expect to vacate.

“As a result, some of the houses have become unsafe to live in. Moreover, we also don’t expect to get any new infrastructure to the village to benefit local residents, as there is an expectation that we will have to leave at any time,” he said.

Senior officials from the Forest Department told The Hindu that as Tamil Nadu did not have adequate funds under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund and Planning Authority (CAMPA), the court had ruled that the national CAMPA funds could be utilised for the purpose of resettling the villagers.

“However, the National authority in-charge of central CAMPA funds has approached the Supreme Court challenging the orders of the High Court,” the official stated. Further complicating matters were descendants of the original 141 members of the Thengumarahada Co-operative Society, most of whom have moved out of the village, but have leased their land to non-members, officials added.

The members are said to be extracting rent from the lease of their land, and are said to be impleading in the case, demanding that they not be relocated. “A few weeks ago, another woman, B. Lakshmi, 56, was killed in an accidental encounter with a wild elephant when she was walking home from the closest bus stand. These kinds of negative interactions between people and animals is routine. Most of us want to leave the village and live a life of safety and security, but have become caught up in this battle between competing interests,” said another resident of the village.