Declare Devanur forest block as Reserve Forest: Environmentalists

Hanamkonda: Members of different organisations working for protection of environment have stepped up their agitation for the preserving Devanur forest block, which includes the Inuparathi Gattu hillocks in Dharmasagar mandal in the district. Representatives of Vana Seva Society (VSS), Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV), Orugallu Wildlife Society (OWLS), Telangana Intellectual Association and Medhini have visited the […]

Hanamkonda: Members of different organisations working for protection of environment have stepped up their agitation for the preserving Devanur forest block, which includes the Inuparathi Gattu hillocks in Dharmasagar mandal in the district.

Representatives of Vana Seva Society (VSS), Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV), Orugallu Wildlife Society (OWLS), Telangana Intellectual Association and Medhini have visited the forest area between Devanur and Mupparam villages here on Thursday. They have inspected the lands which were demarcated by the revenue officials recently as the private lands following the High Court directions.

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Speaking on the occasion, they have expressed serious concern over the alleged issuance of illegal pattadar passbooks that led to litigations. “Several bigshots and realtors have been making attempts to encroach the forest lands with fake documents. Nearly 200 acres of the land was given pattas by a former Thasildhar illegally,” alleged Vana Seva Society president Potlapally Veerabhadra Rao. “The forest officials must take steps to fight the court case and protect the forest land. Devanur forest block is the only urban lung space for Hanamkonda district,” said former District Forest Officer (DFO) K Purushotham.

All of them demanded that the Devunur forest area must be declared Reserve Forest at the earliest to protect the land from the illegal encroachers. They also announced that they would soon approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over the issue and expressed concern over the laxity of the forest officials and revenue department in announcing the forest block as the Reserve Forest.

Later, they met Dharmasagar Tahsildhar M Rajani at her office and urged her to take steps for the protection of the forest land. Environmental activists Gangojula Cholleti Srinivas, Kolipaka Prakash, Pittal Ravi Babu, Kamalakar, Dharmaprakash and several youths from Devanur and Mupparam participated in the programme.