HYDERABAD: The Podu land issue in Khammam district took an ugly turn on Saturday when forest officials faced off in Gubbagurthi of Konijerla mandal with villagers in an effort to prevent encroachment.
Officials said that early on Saturday, around 200 villagers tried to encroach on the forest land in compartments 57 and 58 in Gubbagurthi by cutting down about 120 trees. Senior officials reached the spot and with the help of the police evicted the locals. Forest officials have set up camp int he area.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, district forest officer Siddharth Vikram Singh said “Non-ST people are attempting to encroach the forest land so that even they could get pattas. We are doing Podu surveys of the lands and only ST people, who have been cultivating farms from before December 2005 are eligible to receive them. Most of the people who came on Saturday morning are non-STs”.
Five days back on October 17, around 40 people from Gubbagurthi village had tried to encroach the same forest land. It was foiled by forest officials and local police.
Circle inspector of Wyra T. Suresh said that 10 people were taken in remand after the incident. Suresh said, “Similar attempts were made earlier also. We counselled 10 persons and the sarpanch against such illegal felling of trees.”
