Telangana Govt to pass resolution on Podu lands

Hyderabad : The State government is likely to move a resolution in the State Legislative Assembly during the ongoing Monsoon session, requesting the Centre to extend the cut-off date for providing forest land rights to tribals by amending the Recognition of Forest Rights (ROFR) Act. The resolution will benefit the tribals who are cultivating Podu lands in forest areas of the State and resolve forest land disputes permanently, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced in the State Assembly on Friday.

Stating that the government was committed to resolving the Podu lands issue, the Chief Minister said the State government will shortly launch a total land survey of the State and determine the boundaries of lands using geographical coordinates which will resolve forest land disputes to a large extent. He pointed out that the ownership of forest land cannot be changed considering the existing Central laws and the Supreme Court orders.

“However, on humanitarian grounds, the then UPA government brought the ROFR Act and ordered a survey of Podu lands with 2015 as cut-off date. The survey was conducted to an extent in Telangana region of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and ROFR pattas were given to 96,676 tribals for 3.08 lakh acres of forest lands. However, there are more Podu lands being cultivated in the State which need to be identified,” he said, adding that preliminary estimates indicated that an additional 6 to 7 lakh acres of forest land was being cultivated by tribals.

The Cabinet sub-committee led by Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod on Podu lands has held discussions with the stakeholders and is evaluating the extent of Podu land in addition to the 3.08 lakh acres of ROFR patta lands. “After obtaining the sub-committee report, we might require to pass a unanimous resolution in the Assembly requesting the Centre to extend the cut-off date under ROFR Act and resolve the issue permanently. If required, I’ll lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Modi. The ROFR patta does not provide ownership of the land to tribals, but will ensure certain benefits like Rythu Bandhu for their livelihood,” he added.

Rao stated that tribals of Telangana were facing a challenge from Lambadas from Maharashtra and Guthikoyas from Chhattisgarh who were migrating to erstwhile Adilabad and Khammam districts respectively. As a result, the local tribals were being deprived full benefits of the State government programmes. Efforts are being made to identify the migrant tribals and ensure justice to the locals.

Agreeing with most of the issues raised by Congress MLA D Anasuya alias Seethakka, the Chief Minister said there had been incidents where some officials were misusing their powers and harassing the tribals who were cultivating Podu lands. He stated that the Forest officials had been directed not to harass the tribals in the name of forest conservation, until the Podu lands issue is resolved. On the issue of acquisition of lands assigned to tribals, he made it clear that the officials were instructed to avoid acquisition of assigned lands from the poor pattadars and if unavoidable, they should be compensated duly on a par with other farmers in the area. Earlier, the governments did not compensate or gave nominal compensation to the assigned land pattadars.

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