As the mist clouded the Nelliampathy hills coupled with the monsoon drizzle, the five UDF MLAs walked around two kilometres into the Cherunelli estate to see the crops and interacted with the Adivasi families and workers.
The MLAs V D Satheesan, Hibi Eden, T N Prathapan, V T Balaram and Shreyams Kumar who had reached Nelliampathy on Sunday evening, came to the estate at 9.30 am and began to collect petitions around 10.30 am. The exercise continued till 2.10 pm.
Initially, environmentalists like Velayodi Venugopal of the Plaachimada Samara Samithi, Guruvayurappan, South India co-ordinator of the Wild Life Protection Society of India, Dr P S Panicker of the Nelliampathy Protection Committee and Sajeesh Chandran of Mahatma Gandhi Academy presented their case that the hills need to be preserved as if it was part of the Western Ghats which had been accorded heritage status.
They argued that all the estates whose lease had expired and those which have violated the lease agreements should be taken over.
They said that there were no registered workers in most of the estates and they were living in pitiable conditions. They also pointed out that, on Monday, the workers were ferried in jeeps up to the Pothundy Check Post from Nemmara and other places to be presented before the MLAs.
The secretary of the Nelliampathy Planters’ Association Babu Abraham and Koshy of Alexandria estate and other estate owners who presented their case said that they were entitled to transfer portions of their estate as it was said in the deed that they could‘assign’ it.
Babu Abraham argued that they had pledged the estate in the bank as he is legally entitled to transfer the leasehold right and therefore pledge it in the bank.
He said that the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was not applicable to them, as the estates were entrusted to them by the princely rulers.
They had developed the estate before 1980, they contended. The owners also said that their estates were not reserved forests and they were paying ‘quit rent’ which meant that it was revenue land.
Chief Conservator of Forests Shashidharan said that, when the Forest Conservation Act came into force, the rules of the princely rulers became defunct. He also pointed out that no bank would give loans on ‘leasehold rights’ and they would sell any land pledged with them. Therefore, the estate owners had no right to pledge lands or sell leased lands, he argued .
Ramakrishnan, a worker of the Cherunelli estate said that he had been working in the estate for the past 30 years.
He said that he was getting a daily wage of `240 for the days he worked and that he was provided assistance whenever he fell ill.
However, he admitted that he is not being given provident fund, gratuity or leave with wages till date. Seven woman workers of the same estate said that they were just getting a daily wage of `180 and `1000 as bonus during Onam and Vishu. There were not given any other benefits, they said.
The former president of the Kerala Forest protective Staff Association Jayakumar also presented his case and argued for the takeover of the estates which have violated the lease agreements.
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