THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 19. The Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, said here on Wednesday that the Adivasis, agitating for land and employment, were exceeding established norms for agitations.

Talking to presspersons after a Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister said the Government was doing the maximum for the Adivasis. However, they had continued their stir and set up `refugee camps' even in front of his residence. Their methods exceeded the limits, the Chief Minister said with reference to the Adivasis building `relief camps' in front of the Secretariat also. Their tactics would not be encouraged, he added. Mr. Antony remarked that even the Opposition was now asking why the Government was indulging the Adivasis and why it was negotiating with the group led by Ms. C.K. Janu alone.

He said all Adivasi organisations would be invited to a conference proposed to be convened by him on September 25 to discuss their problems. Apart from two representatives from each organisation, the members of the Assembly Committee on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare would also be invited to the conference. The Chief Minister and other Ministers concerned will also attend.

The Government, he said, was addressing the problems of the Adivasis on a war footing. Yet one section was continuing with its agitation. The Adivasi leader, Ms. Janu's statement that the tribals would `cut the Secretariat into pieces' was very unwise. They should not think that they could do anything in the city.

He pointed out that the Cabinet had decided to give four months' free rations to the Adivasis. The Government was in the process of identifying 10,000 acres of land from the Aralam and Sugandhagiri projects and the land leased to the Plantation Corporation of Kerala, to be distributed to the Adivasis.