National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) chairperson Nand Kumar Sai on Monday said encroachments by non-tribals on land reserved for indigenous people in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) must be removed. Mr. Sai claimed that illegal migration in the TTAADC area was continuing for a long time and the migrants were illegally occupying tribal lands. “As per the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, people from other places can’t enter and live in the Sixth Schedule areas. But this has been going on for a long time here. This problem also continues in parts of the eastern India,” he said. Mr. Sai said after an investigation if any encroachment is identified, the land should be freed. The TTAADC was formed under the Sixth Schedule in 1985. The Council comprises of two third of the State’s territory and is home to indigenous people, who form one third of the population. Mr. Sai claimed that 32,000 State government posts reserved for tribals are currently lying vacant and requested the State government to undertake a special drive to fill up those posts. The NCST chairperson arrived in Tripura on Sunday on a three-day visit to study facilities available to indigenous people in the State.