Agartala (Tripura) [India], About 30 to 40 families from different parts of North Tripura district are spending nights in the forest areas of Peku Cher in Panisagar subdivision of the same district to draw the attention of the government towards their plight. Being landless, according to them, their houses are built on government land and hence they can be evicted from there at any time. The sole objective of the unique agitators is to achieve permanent settlement through individual land titles issued by the Tripura government. With hopes of permanent settlement, families shifted to forest areas and set up temporary huts using tarpaulin sheets and bamboo. Although they believe that their move will not solve their long-standing problem, they call this act an attempt to make their voice heard by the government.The families living here are going through various types of problems. According to Kartiknama, his house located in Jayashree area is built on a parcel of land that was recently allotted for the construction of a police station "We have come here from Jayashree area which comes under the jurisdiction of Dhanajay Para. We We have been living in Jayshree area for two generations.Our house is located next to the police station.Recently almost half of our land has been taken over by the police station authorities and the rest of the land has been allotted for other government construction works. If the situation continues to be like this, we will not have even an inch of land to live on.On the other hand, Krishna Nath, a resident of Kanchanpur subdivision, is said to have taken refuge in the forest area to escape the ethnic tension that arose after the settlement of displaced Bru people in his neighbourhood. We do not have the legal ownership of that land. Don't own where they lived before coming here. "Before going to this forest land, we were living in Kanchanpur. Earlier we were living in Anandabazar area. We moved from Anandabazar to Dasda because there was a riot like situation there. This was the reason for which we had to go to Kanchanpur and now we Are here,” Nath told ANI.He also alleged that the newly settled Bru people were the cause of the prevalent ethnic tensions in the areas where they lived. “We lived” in a rented place for some time. But we want the government to listen to our problems and find solutions for us.'' Meanwhile, a delegation of the opposition CPIM party led by two MLAs visited the forest area and talked to people who had migrated into the forest. The legislators urged people to return home as the country's law does not allow organized human settlement in forest areas."We were able to convince many families and till now, five families have returned to their homes. We have reviewed the situation here and we will raise their issue with the concerned authorities. We will also raise their voice in the upcoming assembly session," CPIM MLA Shailendra Chandra Nath told ANI. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manik Saha had also spoken on the issue and said that the state government would look into the matter on humanitarian grounds.
Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of an event, Saha said, “As per the Act, there is no provision to allow people to live in reserved forest areas.