File review plea on Meghamalai evictions, urges CPI

CHENNAI: CPI state secretary M Veerapandian on Thursday (August 20) urged the TVK government to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order on evicting tribal and traditional forest-dependent communities from the Srivilliputhur-Meghamalai Tiger Reserve.

In a statement, he said the May 29, 2026, order recorded 4,601 encroachments covering 5,072.653 hectares in Meghamalai. The State government had classified 1,595 occupants as having permanent houses and forest-dependent livelihoods, 233 as having temporary houses and such livelihoods, and 2,773 as being dependent on forest agriculture.

Veerapandian said their rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, must be identified, verified and recognised before any eviction. Section 4 (5) of the Act safeguards tribal and traditional forest dwellers from eviction until the rights recognition process is completed, he said.

He urged the government to halt evictions, complete the recognition of individual and community forest rights and challenge the Supreme Court order, stressing that forest conservation and the rights of forest-dependent communities were not contradictory.