Tribal Farmers Stage Half-Naked Protest, Seek Action Against Tahsildar in ASR

Visakhapatnam: Tribal farmers from Chinnakonela Revenue village in Rompilli panchayat of Anantagiri mandal, ASR district, staged a half-naked rally and dharna on Monday, demanding action against revenue officials who removed their lands from the dispute register in Webland records without prior notice.

The protesters urged the Paderu sub-collector to inspect the disputed lands and restore them to the dispute register.

They said tribal families had cultivated around 32.30 acres in Survey Nos. 1 to 5 for generations and depended on the land for their livelihood.

According to the protesters, certain corporate entities had colluded with revenue officials to obtain pattadar passbooks for the land in violation of the Record of Rights (ROR) Act.

They noticed the “irregularities” when they sought clarification on their land records -- and found that the properties had been transferred to private individuals and corporate entities.

In 2020, tribal farmers, including Konaparthi Chennaiyya, Konaparthi Rameshu, Konaparthi Simhachalam and Janni Shankar Rao, filed ROR cases before the Paderu sub-collector court.

The cases concerned 17.75 acres in Survey No 1 and 3.30 acres in Survey No 5.

After repeated representations, then ITDA project officer Ronanki Gopalakrishna inspected the land, conducted a Gram Sabha and directed the mandal revenue officer to include it in the dispute register.

The land had reportedly remained in the register since 2020, the petitioners said.

The issue resurfaced recently when officials visited the village to register crops.

During verification, the farmers said they found the names of non-tribal individuals, including Curry Samudral Reddy, Sureddy Trilok and Pragadha Ramu, listed as cultivators of the disputed land in Webland records.

Addressing the protesters, farmer Konaparthi Chennaiyya said the land had been removed from the dispute register without notice to the tribal cultivators.

He also alleged that corporate interests were attempting to exploit ancestral tribal land for commercial purposes and were advertising the properties on social media.

The protesters accused vested interests of encroaching on tribal land by misleading vulnerable members of the community.

They demanded action against those responsible and warned of a large-scale agitation if the disputed land within Chinnakonela revenue limits was not restored to the dispute register.

Rompilli ward member Somila Appalaraju led the protest along with tribal leaders Konaparthi Simhachalam and Janni Shankar Rao and the mandal leader of the Adivasi Girijana Sangham.

Tribal farmers and villagers participated in the demonstration.