Address podu lands issue, tribals urge Minister

They alleged that they were being harassed by the officials of the forest department for depending on the forests for livelihood.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A handful of tribals and local farmers staged a sit-in in front of Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy’s convoy, demanding him address the long-pending podu cultivation issue at Kondapalli village in Penchikalpet mandal on Monday.

The agitating locals said they could not avail Rythu Bandhu and benefits of other schemes since Forest Department officials had raised objections to their cultivating crops on lands that they had been using for many decades. They lost their livelihood since the foresters took over agricultural lands stating that they were of reserve forest. They alleged that they were being harassed by the officials of the forest department for depending on the forests for livelihood.

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The tribals said the forest officials were planting saplings in the fields and were digging trenches around the lands. They lamented that they were forced to ditch their cotton crop which was in harvesting stage due to restrictions imposed by the foresters in the wake of the man-animal conflict. They also urged the government to capture the killer tiger which has been on the prowl in the area at the earliest.

They, however, withdrew their agitation when local MLA Koneru Konappa assured that the issue would be brought to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao soon. He promised that Chandrashekhar Rao would address the issue and provide security to cotton farmers in the wake of tiger movement.

 

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