Telangana: Committee set up to oversee disposal of claims of lands under podu cultivation

Hyderabad: The State government has constituted a district coordination committee to oversee the proper disposal of claims regarding lands under podu cultivation and to ensure inter-departmental coordination. The district in-charge minister will be the chairperson for the committee while Commissioner/Superintendent of Police, Project officer, TDA, Additional Collector (Revenue), Additional Collector (Local Bodies), District Forest Officer, […]

Hyderabad: The State government has constituted a district coordination committee to oversee the proper disposal of claims regarding lands under podu cultivation and to ensure inter-departmental coordination.

The district in-charge minister will be the chairperson for the committee while Commissioner/Superintendent of Police, Project officer, TDA, Additional Collector (Revenue), Additional Collector (Local Bodies), District Forest Officer, DRDO and DTDO will be the official members.

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MPs, MLAS, MLCs, Zilla Parishad Chairperson will be the special invitees. Other special invitees can be invited as required by the committee while the district Collector will be the convenor, according to Christina Z Chongthu, Secretary to Government.

The committee should build a broad-based consensus at the district, mandal and gram panchayat level to protect, conserve and safeguard forests, and collectively and strictly ensure no further encroachments of forest land.

It must be appraised about the claims filed over lands under Podu cultivation and appraise the competent authority in case of forest encroachment due to Podu apart from estimating the requirement for deployment, trainings, or logistical support to resolve Podu issue at the district level itself, within its available resources.

The Collectors of the district concerned should take necessary action in the matter accordingly.