Podu lands: KCR rekindles hopes of tribals

66,004 applications submitted seeking rights over forest lands measuring 2.27 lakh acres in composite Adilabad district

Adilabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao‘s announcement that podu land pattas would be distributed to eligible tribals by the end of February, besides financial aid under Girijan Bandhu on the lines of Dalit Bandhu, has rekindled hopes of better days among tribals in the erstwhile Adilabad district.

As per information provided by officials, 66,004 applications were submitted seeking rights over forest lands measuring 2.27 lakh acres in composite Adilabad district. Of them, 33,885 were tribal farmers and 32,119 non-tribal farmers belonging to 711 hamlets under 248 gram panchayats in Adilabad, Kumram Bheem Asifabad, Nirmal and Mancherial districts so far.

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A staggering 2,27,129 acres of forest land is being tilled in the four districts. While tribal farmers are cultivating crops in 1,24, 522 acres of forest lands, non-tribals are tilling 1,02,507 acres of lands belonging to the forest department. Tribal farmers were upbeat over the government’s decision to address the podu land issue. They expressed happiness over realization of their long-pending dream soon.

K Bheemrao Patel, a tribal farmer from Sirikonda mandal in Adilabad district said that successive governments promised to address the issue, but ignored it after coming to power. He stated that tribals had been demanding issuance of documents of ownership for cultivating crops in forest lands for over two decades. He added that he was tilling 2 acres of land for many decades, but denied rights.

Since the advent of the Recognition of Forest Right (2006), 37,334 tribal farmers have been provided with passbooks so far. A total of 1,36,117 acres of forest land was allocated to the beneficiaries. But, thousands of tribals, who till forest lands as part of shifting farming popularly known as Podu cultivation, continued to wait for the documents since 2005.

The landless tribals are forced to become daily wage earners and migrate to urban parts in search of livelihood. They will be able to lead happy lives if they get a piece of land. They will no longer visit the office of Collectors and Integrated Tribal Development Officer (ITDA)-Utnoor urging the documents on every Monday.