Forest, revenue depts lock horns over 4200 acres of podu land in Bhupalpally

Bhupalpally: The row over land at Maha Mutharam village is snowballing into a controversy as the forest officials issued the POR (Preliminary Offence Report) against Maha Mutharam Tahsildar Madhavi as the revenue officials insisted that the land under cultivation by the farmers belonged to revenue department, not that of the forest department. Moreover, a forest […]

Bhupalpally: The row over land at Maha Mutharam village is snowballing into a controversy as the forest officials issued the POR (Preliminary Offence Report) against Maha Mutharam Tahsildar Madhavi as the revenue officials insisted that the land under cultivation by the farmers belonged to revenue department, not that of the forest department.

Moreover, a forest staffer lodged a complaint with the local police to book case under SC/ST ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act making some ‘false allegations’. Protesting over the unjustifiable actions of the forest department, the revenue officials including the Tahsildhars have staged a protest wearing black badges on Wednesday.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Revenue Officers leader and Bhupalpally Tahsildar MD Iqbal said that the forest department had entered into a fight over the ownership of nearly 4200 acres of the land in survey no 487 at the Maha Mutahram village though the land belonged to the revenue department. “Nearly 300 farmers have been cultivating the land for about 50 years, and they are even getting financial assistance under the Ryhtu Bandhu scheme. But the forest officials had obstructed digging the borewells under the Giri Vikas, a government scheme, in the lands. When the revenue officials made it clear that the land belonged to the revenue department, a verbal duel took place between the revenue and forest officials on May 26. Following this, the forest officials issued a POR against the Tahsildhar Madhavi,” Iqbal said.

Condemning the act of the forest officials, he demanded that the forest officials should withdraw the illegal POR. He also found fault with the beat officer who lodged a complaint against the Tahsildhar seeking action under the SC/ST Act. Meanwhile, a senior forest official said that the forest staff had hastily issued the POR, and added that the Tahsildhar might present herself before the court as the nature of the offence is grave.

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