Multai refuses to let Pardhis in

Taking note of reports in The Indian Express on how villagers had driven away hundreds of Pardhis and razed to ground their settlement, the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes is on a day’s visit to Multai on Sunday. Villagers led by elected representatives have vowed not to let the Pardhis return to Multai, about 50 km from the district headquarters of Betul. On the eve of the Commission’s visit, the elected representatives gave a proof of what’s in store for the Pardhis should they attempt to return.

They blocked the highway in the afternoon and protested the administration’s decision to temporarily accommodate about 80 Pardhis, mostly women and children, in Polytechnic hostel. A group of Pardhis arrived in Betul in the wee hours from Bhopal. Another group is still in Bhopal and announced that it would go back to Multai as they had no other place to go.

Betul BJP MLA Shivprasad Rathore, chairman of the parents-students association of Polytechnic, sat on a dharna and announced that he would back down only if Pardhis were shifted out of Polytechnic.

“They should go back to Maharashtra from where they came years ago and settled illegally,” Rathore told The Sunday Express late on Saturday.