Refugees from across AP borders

V L Srinivasan

Hyderabad, Aug 29, 2008

HYDERABAD: Fear is writ large on the face of Muchiki Undaiah. Dislocated from his roots in Yetigatta in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, he looks disoriented. ‘‘Two of my uncles were shot dead in an encounter while another died at the hands of Salwa Judum. They slit his throat,’’ he recalls.

That bloodbath in 2005 threw Undaiah and his family out of his place of birth and into the unfamiliar environs of Andhra Pradesh.

He is one among an estimated one lakh tribals, belonging to Muria, Dorla and Koya sects, who crossed the border from the Dantewade district leaving behind their all three years ago.

A standing testimony to the ongoing battle between Maoists and Salwa Judum, the pro-government outfit, they are victims of one of the worst known civil strifes –– largely ignored by governments on either side of the border.

The tribals were here in the city to attend a meeting organised by the Solidarity Committee on Internally Displaced Tribals.

A majority of them are living in Khammam, Warangal, East Godavari and Karimnagar districts like refugees in sub-human conditions suffering from various physical ailments. The common mental disorder among them is ‘xenophobia’ (fear of strangers).

Despite fleeing the violence-hit areas in Dantewada, these tribals live under constant fear as the Maoists, police and the Salwa Judum come to their habitats looking for ‘informers.’ While men are tortured to death, women are subjected to gangrapes right in front of their husbands and other family members by these marauders.

Add to their woes the competition from Andhra Pradesh tribals who claim the forest land on which these migrants take up ‘Podu’ cultivation. Forest officials too arrest them for cultivating forest lands.

‘‘We have no support and none listens to us. If no one is interested in solving our problems, where do we go ?’’ wonders M Ramesh of Pinasanda village in Chhattisgarh.

Ramesh and his family fled the village along with 50 other families in 2005 and are currently living in nine settlements in Pinapaka mandal, Khammam. ‘‘Give us pattas for the lands we are cultivating.

We want to stay in Andhra Pradesh,’’ Ramesh urges pitiably.

Though the Rural Development officials wanted to give them job cards under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, police officials objected, warning that the fleeing tribals were Maoists in disguise.