Forest Staff Stall Rural Projects
Local people and elected representatives have long alleged that forest staff are obstructing development works such as roads, three-phase power supply and borewell digging in villages, citing forest area restrictions.
Adilabad:Local people and elected representatives have long alleged that forest staff are obstructing development works such as roads, three-phase power supply and borewell digging in villages, citing forest area restrictions. Now, similar resistance is being faced by beneficiaries of Indiramma houses and the Indira Soura Giri Jala Vikasam scheme.
Officials in Komaram Bheem district plan to install free fabricated houses under the Indiramma Housing scheme to avoid traditional construction, but forest officials refuse to permit even these fabricated houses within forest areas.
Field staff of the forest department demand that beneficiaries obtain special permissions from district-level forest authorities before constructing Indiramma houses or digging borewells under government schemes. Villagers claim the forest staff threaten to file cases if they construct houses.
Beneficiaries in Sushmeer village, chosen as a pilot site for the scheme in Bejjur mandal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, face significant resistance. Forest officials maintain that Sushmeer lies within a reserve forest and no construction is allowed. Villagers question how school buildings and water tanks were previously permitted within the same area.
Former Sarpanch of Sushmeer, Shankar, said the community has lived in the village for generations. He added that Adivasis are the true protectors of the forest, yet forest officials deny them the right to build Indiramma houses.
In another incident, forest officials sealed a newly dug borewell in Saleguda village, Adilabad rural mandal, claiming the site was a forest land. Villagers said the borewell was sanctioned after many requests and its water flow was cause for celebration for them.
In the Dedra gram panchayat, which includes Girijai, Mankapur, and Gosai Umada villages in Bhajarhathnoor mandal, Adilabad district, 30 borewells have been sanctioned under the Indira Soura Giri Jala Vikasam scheme. However, forest officials obstruct borewell digging on podu lands where Adivasis hold ROFR pattas.
Kudimetha Lingu of the Dedra gram panchayat said borewells were approved to irrigate podu lands, but forest staff are creating hurdles despite the state government’s readiness to provide solar motors for water supply. Forest staff insist that permissions from higher authorities are necessary due to the land’s reserve forest status.
But suddenly, they found a damaged pipe attached to the borewell site, which was sealed after a ritual puja to Persapen. The villagers have demanded that the district collector take action against the forest staff responsible for closing the borewell.
Forest officials are also obstructing cultivation on forest lands traditionally farmed by Adivasis, especially as the rainy season begins. They have attempted to plant trees on podu lands in Addala Thimmappur, Peesara and Laxmipur in Peredigonda mandal, and Kannapur and Gopalpur in Sirikonda mandal.
Thudum Debba state working president Godam Ganesh urged district officials to order an inquiry into the borewell closure and take strict action against the forest staff involved in it.