BRS rule in Telangana helped in unfolding golden phase in tribal welfare: Satyavathi

BRS government has succeeded where the previous government had failed. The government had issued podu pattas to as many as 1.5 lakh tribal farmers giving rights over 4.06 lakh acres, said Satyavathi

Hyderabad: The BRS rule in the state has helped in unfolding a golden phase in tribal welfare as the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao is going all out in reaching out to the forest dweller communities, said the Minister for Tribal Welfare, Satyavathi Rathod on Saturday. Replying to a short discussion on ‘Tribal welfare in the state – distribution of Podu land pattas’ she said the issual of Podu land Pattas to the tribal farmers for the land in their enjoyment would have far reaching impact.

She said the BRS government has succeeded where the previous government had failed. The government had issued podu pattas to as many as 1.5 lakh tribal farmers giving rights over 4.06 lakh acres. The tribal farmers who received Podu pattas were given the Rythu Bandhu assistance on par with the farmers in the plain areas. She assured that the official machinery would look into the omissions and commissions if any in the process to ensure that all those eligible for issue of Podu Pattas would be considered.

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The Government had already withdrawn the cases filed at the DFO level earlier against the tribal farmers cultivating podu lands. The forest officials will initiate the process in coordination with the director general of police to withdraw all the cases in the courts also. She said that the protection of existing forests was as important as the protection of the rights of the podu land farmers. The government has sanctioned medical colleges in tribal areas. This initiative would help improve the health care for the tribal communities.

She appealed to the Centre to accord the status of national festival to the Sammaka Saralamma jathara, one of the largest tribal carnivals of the world drawing pilgrims from across several Indian states. Coming down heavily against the BJP government at the Centre for its vague promises on tribal welfare which turned out to be mere lip service, she said the strife in Manipur that had taken a big toll owed mainly to the machinations of the Modi Sarkar to divide the tribal communities for the sake of its political ends.