The residents of Ajjoor, near Kothagiri, today opposed the proposal of Forest department seeking to declare the village as reserved forest and bring under its control.

The residents, mostly belonging to Badaga community today convened a meeting and adopted a resolution opposing the proposal by forest department and also the revenue department, Badagadesa Party Convenor, Manjai Mohan said.

The village has more than 200 houses, with a population of nearly 3,000 and solely depend on the forest produce for more than 100 years and declaring it as a reserved area will hit the livelihood of the villagers, he said.

The resolution objecting the proposal will be sent to Tamil Nadu chief minister and also the district administration, Mohan said, adding over 1,500 from the community participated in the ‘grama sabha’ meeting.