Bengaluru: The state government will rehabilitate only those tribals who submit the necessary documents to prove they have been living in Diddalli for many years now, Kodagu district in-charge minister M R Seetharam said on Friday.

Government documents show that only 199 families have been living in the Diddalli reserve forest area for the past many years while the rest moved there in recent years. Currently, there are 572 families in the area, he told journalists in Bengaluru.

He said the government had asked the tribals to submit identification — ration cards, Aadhaar cards, voter’s IDs or bank details to the authorities before January 31. Only families whose details are authenticated will be rehabilitated, he added.

The government had identified four places 10-15 km from Diddalli to rehabilitate the tribals evicted by the Forest Department. It also issued a show-cause notice to a coffee plantation owner who is said to have encroached on forest land near Diddalli. The government has kept this 13.5-acre land as an option to rehabilitate the tribals, Seetharam said.

The minister claimed that police had information that many activists who protested on behalf of the tribals were either Naxalites or belonged to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).