Efforts on for permanent solution to podu lands issue: Jagadish Reddy
Suryapet: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Sunday said that the State government was making sincere efforts to find a permanent solution to the podu lands issue in the State. An all-party meeting chaired by the District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil was conducted on podu lands issue at his chamber at the district collectorate of […]
Suryapet: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Sunday said that the State government was making sincere efforts to find a permanent solution to the podu lands issue in the State. An all-party meeting chaired by the District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil was conducted on podu lands issue at his chamber at the district collectorate of Nalgonda.
Attending the meeting as the chief guest, Jagadish Reddy said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao involved the people and officials of all departments in the afforestation programme, which was giving results and improved the greenery in the State. The podu lands issue was decades-old. He said there were conflicts between the forest officials and tribals who were eking the livelihood through cultivation in podu lands.
He said that the government brought the ROFR Act in 2006 and made some efforts to solve the podu lands issue. Thousands of applications from the tribals for rights on the podu lands were still pending with the State government, he added. He reminded that the Chief Minister has constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee on podu lands issue to find a solution to the issue. The Sub-Committee had submitted a report to the Chief Minister. On the direction of the Chief Minister, all-party meetings were being conducted to collect opinions on the issue to find a permanent solution.
He said that Grama Sabha would be conducted from November 8 to identify the genuine persons to provide rights on podu lands.
Congress for transparency
Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy welcomed the decision of the State government to provide rights to the tribal on the podu lands. But, there was a need to ensure transparency in the process. The government should act irrespective of politics in the protection of forest lands, he demanded. The CPI(M) district secretary Mudireddy Sudhakar Reddy said that it was the responsibility of the state government to guarantee impartiality in the process of providing rights to cultivators on podu lands. His party would extend cooperation to the state government in the matter, he assured.
Rajya Sabha member Badugula Lingaiah Yadav, MLAs Gadari Kishore and N Bhasker Rao, Additional Collector V Chandrasekhar and officials of the Forest Department also attended the meeting.
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