Madikeri: With some individuals spreading the news that Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies K Joy has been favouring Malayalees in cases pertaining to Jamma land issue, the DC, who hails from Kerala has now lodged a complaint with the Madikeri police.
Jamma Lands were gifted to native residents of Kodagu (the majority Kodavas), by the kings who ruled Kodagu and later by the British as a token of thanks for the services rendered by them. Jamma landowners have a special privilege to own guns without licences as they are exempted from the Arms Act.
Now, it is said that several Whatsapp groups in the district are circulating posts alleging that the DC has been favouring Malayalees by helping them get these Jamma lands. Many have claimed that the DC is waging a silent war against Jamma Kodavas and Kodagu Gowdas by identifying land belonging to these two sections to resettle Malayalees, who were once forced to leave the houses that they had built encroaching river banks.
The messages claimed that DC was doing this under the influence of Kerala and the Popular Front of India.
The district administration has evicted people from 10 acres of encroached land at Nellihudikeri. However, the encroachers have managed to bring in a stay from the High Court over the eviction. Though many say that eviction drive was conducted to rehabilitate the landslide and flood victims, the senders of these messages have dyed the entire issue with a different colour. Police have questioned at least 50 people.
