The tribals march to the collectorate. (Biplab Basak)

Siliguri, Dec. 8: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad today submitted a memorandum to the Jalpaiguri district magistrate, demanding the arrest of forest officers who allegedly set 17 huts on fire near Malbazar last week. The outfit also demanded compensation.

The leaders of the Parishad said a team of foresters had entered Bir Birsa Munda Colony, located close to Meenglass Tea Estate, on December 4 to monitor the movement of elephants. Around 70 tribal families live in the locality. “The guards asked us to produce the documents of the land on which we lived,” said Etowa Munda. “When we refused, they ransacked our huts and set them on fire. Seventeen huts were gutted.”

The aggrieved people, accompanied by the leaders of the Parishad, reached the district collectorate this afternoon, shouting slogans against the foresters, who, according to sources, were from the Neora Range in Gorubathan.

“Even if the huts were illegal and the residents had encroached on the land, rules should be followed to evict them,” said Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of the Dooars-Terai Coordination Committee of the Parishad. The CPI (MLPCC), a Naxalite faction, launched a dharna at Subhas More in Malbazar yesterday, prompting the subdivisional police officer to visit the spot and register a case.

The block development officer and the land reforms officer of Malbazar have been instructed to conduct inquiries and submit reports to the district magistrate, the sources said.

Arunachal Bose, the additional divisional manager of the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation, said some officers had gone to the locality to clear encroachments that had mushroomed in the elephant corridor. “But there have been no reports of any hut being burned down.”