A group of villagers from the villages scheduled for relocation from Amrabad Tiger Reserve, affirmed that they were voluntarily shifting from the forest, largely owning to lack of facilities and opportunities.

They addressed a media conference in the city on Wednesday, to debunk the claims of ‘Chenchu Solidarity Forum’, a collective of NGOs and stakeholders, which said the Chenchu Adivasis are being threatened by the Forest Department to make them move.

Speaking at the press meet, a woman Sailamma from Kollampenta village said the village lacked road facility, educational opportunities, and even drinking water facility.

“We have to drink from streams due to which children frequently take ill. There is no road for the ambulance to arrive in time, which leads to deaths. GCC (Girijan Cooperative Corporation) is not accepting the forest produce. I tried agriculture by borrowing ₹2 lakh, but wild pigs, deer and monkeys ate the crop,” Sailamma shared.

She said there is no mobile phone signal for children to apply for higher studies. She also said the villagers visited the relocation site where they would be given a house and five acres of land, and it would help their development.

Chirra Errama Ramulu from Sarlapally who is a Chenchu tribesman, said a few Chenchus did not get land under the settlement of forest rights, due to which they are ready to move. Special attraction is the ₹15 lakh compensation being given to even adult children in the family.

“Who are these people opposing? Do they assume that their children should live well, study in foreign countries, while our children can’t even go to hostel for studies?” he questioned, saying that their consent also was due to proximity of the relocation village to the district headquarters.

Saibaba, head of the Joint Relocation and Re-Organization Committee, Amrabad Tiger Reserve, urged the people who do not wish to relocate, not to obstruct the relocation process.

A statement released in the Committee’s name and circulated by the Forest Department, refuted the claim that Gram Sabhas were not conducted, and assured that multiple Gram Sabhas were conducted transparently, and resolutions were genuine and documented, and that there was no harassment from Forest officials or police.

However, a fact-finding team report from Human Rights Forum and Dalit Bahujan Front recently said that the demand for relocation majorly came from Adivasis who had already left the villages to settle in towns nearby. The report also said the recent rally by villagers who were willing to relocate had only one Chenchu person. Majority resident members of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group were not willing to move, it claimed.