Podu lands row: Revenue, forest officials visit Iravendi, interact with tribals

Bhadrachalam Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Damodar Rao, Burgampadu Tahsildar Sirisha, Forest Range Officer Ramesh, Mandal Congress Committee leaders P Venkateshwar Reddy, Bhajana Ramesh and others visited the hamlet and interacted with the residents.

Kothagudem: In the wake of recent clashes between the foresters and podu farmers, revenue and forest officials visited Kosagumpu tribal hamlet in Iravendi gram panchayat of Burgampadu mandal in the district on Thursday.

Bhadrachalam Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Damodar Rao, Burgampadu Tahsildar Sirisha, Forest Range Officer Ramesh, Mandal Congress Committee leaders P Venkateshwar Reddy, Bhajana Ramesh and others visited the hamlet and interacted with the residents.

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During the discussions the tribals asked the officials to allot three acres of land to each of the 34 families in the hamlet and agreed to allow for the recovery of the additional lands by the forest department. They assured the officials that they would not damage the forest to create additional podu lands.

The officials and leaders told the tribals not to complicate the things further and follow the officials’ directions. The Congress leaders alleged that some opposition leaders have misguided the tribals stating that the forest officials would take back their podu lands.