Trapped in the wild

Struggle of settlers in Kerala against forest laws and buffer zones, fighting for land rights and exclusion from reserves.

The rutted causeway with its battered handrails marks the boundary between two worlds.

On the far side, a patchwork of rubber and cocoa plantations spreads across fertile hills, nestled between the Pampa and Azhutha rivers. The rugged wilderness of the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) rises in stark contrast on the other side. Though the bustling base stations of Pampa and Erumely, gateways to the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district, lie about 20 kilometres away on either side, they feel like distant lands from this isolated enclave.   

“Welcome to Pampa Valley and Angel Valley,” reads a sign perched by the roadside, less than 100 metre above the rocky streambed. But it’s more than just a welcome. It is the beginning of a story that reveals the trials and resilience of a community long pushed to the fringes by marauding wildlife and restrictive forest laws.   

The sign appeared in December 2022, a response to growing regional tensions. Frustrated locals had dismantled a Forest department sign after a State government satellite survey identified the area as forestland. The tipping point came when a social media clip, allegedly from the Erumely panchayat secretary, claimed that submitting forms to exclude their lands from the forest buffer zone was futile.

Feeling abandoned by the system, the locals’ anger boiled over. One of the key figures in this struggle was P.J. Sebastian, a 64-year-old man popularly called Theyyachan, one of the 63 protesters charged in a police case for damaging public property.  

“It’s not just me; there are 62 others. Our case is still pending with the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kanjirappally, and there was a hearing just last week,” he explains.   

This legal battle is just the latest in a long series of struggles for these settlers. From the reassignment of their lands between Idukki and Kottayam districts to fighting for title deeds, and inclusion in the PTR buffer zone, these high-range settlers have long been at odds with the State, trying to defend their rights. But perhaps the most critical moment came in 2022 when the satellite survey declared their settlements as forestland.