HYDERABAD: In a bid to put an end to the long-pending 'podu lands' issue, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday directed officials to receive claims from tribals and others who are undertaking agriculture on podu lands (forest lands) from November 8 to December 8.
He instructed officials to convene preparatory meetings at all levels till November 8 and set up village committees as per RoFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2008. The Chief Minister asked them to appoint a nodal officer for every two or three villages and directed respective revenue divisional officers (RDOs) and district collectors to monitor the process at sub-division and district-level respectively.
The Chief Minister held a high-level meeting on resolving podu lands issue, conservation of forests and Haritha Haram at Pragathi Bhavan on Saturday which was attended by ministers, district collectors and top officials of police, forest, tribal and panchayat raj departments.
He directed officials to cancel Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, free power and other government benefits to those who cultivate ganja and arrest them. Those caught doing ganja cultivation in RoFR lands, their rights on lands should be cancelled, Rao instructed.
The CM asked officials to accord rights on podu lands to tribals and others who are in possession of podu lands and undertaking agriculture at present adding that not an inch of forest land should be allowed to be encroached upon after RoFR rights are issued to existing tribals.
The Chief Minister stated that the government had the prime responsibility of conserving the forests while at the same time safeguarding the interests of tribals.
After receiving the claims from tribals, the officials should take up field visits and inspections to verify the genuineness of claims and accord RoFR rights.
Rao said about 89 per cent of podu lands encroachment were reported from only 12 districts such as Kothagudem, Asifabad, Mahbubabad, Mulugu, Adilabad, Bhupalapally, Kamareddy, Khammam, Nirmal, Warangal, Nalgonda and Nizamabad.
He suggested that all those tribals involved in the podu cultivation within the forest should be provided with an alternative government land nearby for cultivation. If there is no government land available, they should be provided with land on the outer periphery of the forestland. They should be provided with free water, power and residential homes. He said forestland boundaries should be fixed and protection trench should be formed and in the trench, nicker nuts (Gacchakayi) plants should be grown.
