Tiruvannamalai Corporation issues eviction notices to houses on encroached land in Arunachala Hills

The existing encroachments in a portion of Arunachala Hills along the 14-km-long Girivalam Path near Arunachaleswara temple in Tiruvannamalai town will soon become a Reserve Forest (RF) as eviction of illegal settlers in the hills has been initiated by Tiruvannamalai Corporation.

Corporation officials said that the initiative to demolish encroachments in the hills is to prevent landslips, especially during monsoon. On December 1, 2024, seven persons died after heavy rain triggered a landslip in the hills.

As part of the measure, the civic body has issued eviction notices to 143 settlements, mostly houses, in the hills to vacate immediately. The houses, which are located at the foothills that come under Corporation limits, covering at least six wards, have been classified as illegal structures. “Piped water supply will be disconnected to 143 houses next week as part of eviction. Thereafter, Tangedco will disconnect power supply before illegal structures are demolished,” S. Selva Balaji, Commissioner, Tiruvannamalai Corporation, told The Hindu.

As per a study, the Revenue Department found that there were around 3,535 illegal settlements in the hills especially along Girivalam path for many years. Of this, 1,535 illegal structures were identified as houses located on government land in the hills. Remaining 2,000 structures are located in disputed land in the hills as the Revenue Department is unable to trace the land records for these.

In other words, around 576 acres of land in the hills are under encroachments, mostly houses. In addition, around 20 acres of forest land in the hills also have illegal settlements.

Initially, 1,535 illegal structures in the hills will be demolished in phases. , Revenue officials have issued notices to at least 400 houses in the hills to vacate immediately.

The entire work is being monitored by Collector K. Tharpagaraj who is coordinating various stakeholders including revenue, police, civic body, forests and Tangedco for the past few months to remove encroachments in the hills permanently.

Forest officials said that the Arunachala Hills comes under Adi Annamalai RF with over 900 hectares, spreading over nine kms radius. The hill is located at 2,668 feet-high from the sea level where fire is lit atop the hillock as part of the Maha Deepam festival every year. 

Land around the foothills to a distance of six kms belongs to the revenue department while the remaining area in the hills are forests. Once encroachments are demolished, the land will be merged with existing forests in the hills, forest officials said.