Bengaluru: Tribal leader Muthamma, who has been fighting for the land rights of tribals living in line houses in plantations of Kodagu, claiming that they were treated as bonded labourers, complains that she is being restricted from being part of the tribal movement, and is prevented from meeting tribals relocated from Diddalli to Bedagudda and Basavanahalli in Kodagu.
According to Muthamma, the cops have filed cases against her accusing her of preventing them from arresting her sons and also for entering the reserve forest area in Diddalli. “I am now being restricted from moving out of Virajpet taluk. I am deeply pained. This is being done to prevent me from being part of the movement. All these years, our tribals have suffered as bonded labourers, I only want future generations to be out of this system," she said.
Is bonded labour really a reality? A.K. Subbaiah who is leading the ‘Bhoomi Maththu Vasathi Horata Samithi’ agrees that bonded labour continues to exist at some places in Kodagu to an extent. He says he will continue to fight for agricultural land and sites for the remaining 3,000 tribal families living in the line houses at plantations in Kodagu.
While dwelling on the plight of the tribals, Subbaiah said, "The Plantation Workers Act applies to only planters who own more than 20 acres. But 70 per cent of planters own less than that. Planters give loans to the workers but they hardly get cleared as the wages are very less.”
Meanwhile, the Kodagu administration is slowly making arrangements for the tribals at Bedagudda and Basavanahalli. Swamy a tribal leader said, "Currently sites are being assured to 528 families (who were evicted from the reserve forest in December), the government has already given sites to 181 tribal families at Bedagudda including one site for a tribal leader Anitha, and to 177 families in Basavanahalli including one site for me. I and Anitha were labourers in the line houses in coffee plantations. At Bedagudda, there are seven bathrooms and 15 toilets. And at Basavanahalli there are four toilets and four bathrooms. Currently tribals have put up sheds using tarpaulin sheets given at Diddalli, but those tents have not been able withstand the severe wind and rain. The authorities are trying to build a temporary tent as the rainy season has begun and it will be another three months before they start constructing houses. They are also giving us rice, dal, oil, sugar, salt and tamarind."
