COIMBATORE: A section of dalit people on Monday petitioned Coimbatore district collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar urging him to recover 74 cents of encroached land at Sikkalamplayam. The encroached parcel of land is part of a burial ground for scheduled caste people in Sikkalampalayam and Vadapudur villages. The burial ground originally measured 84 cents. Now, dalit people are forced to bury bodies only on 10 cents of land after a group of people occupied the rest, the dalit people have stated in their petition to the collector. P Nagaraj, former member of 7th ward in Solavampalayam village panchayat, said revenue department records clearly showed that it was a burial ground. He said that a decade ago, a section of people started occupying the parcel of land by dumping garbage and setting up mechanic sheds for trucks and other vehicles. “They parked their trucks there. Whenever, the dalit people approached them to remove the vehicles, they replied that the vehicles belonged to someone else. So, the dalit people are forced to use the remaining 10 cents of land,” said Nagaraj. “More than 500 dalit families are residing in Sikkalampalayam and Vadapudur villages. They held a protest in 2020. The block development officer visited the area and promised us that the govt would construct a compound wall around the 84 cents of land and secure the land. But the govt has not taken any steps so far. Whenever we raise the issue to the officials, the vehicle owners take their vehicles away from the ground and show that they have not occupied the parcel of land,” said Nagaraj. Officials from the district administration told the petitioners that appropriate action would be taken on their petition and the encroachments would be removed soon.
