Katchal, Aug 23: Another controversy over title and possession of a parcel of land surface from Katchal in the Nancowry group of islands has been reported.
According to reports, a group of Tamil settlers of Katchal encroached upon a parcel of land near Jetty area claiming that the land was allotted in favour of Tamizhar Sangam years ago and erected a signboard on the land. Natives of Nancowry, however, registered strong protest and demanded immediate eviction of the encroachment from the land.
The Assistant Commissioner of the region promptly intervened realizing the gravity of the situation and after some discussions managed to persuade the Tamil settlers to remove the sign board from the land.
Speaking to Andaman Sheekha, the Spokesperson of Tribal Council, Nancowry, Mr Rasheed Yusuf said that the population of Tamil settlers settled in the Katchal Island by the government of India way back in 1969 has increased manifold over the years. “The spike in population of Tamil settlers has now become a serious problem for the original settlers of Katchal i.e the Nicobarese tribes. The government should take immediate steps to accept the demands of Tamil Settlers of Katchal and settle the Tamil population to some other island and provide them a special rehabilitation package so that they don’t pose any further threat to the native population,” he said.
