Illegal Forest Land Occupation by Guthikoyas Back in Focus

HYDERABAD: The July 17 incident involving migrant Guthikoya tribal community members and forest department staff in Aswapuram reserve forest of Bhadradri Kothagudem district has taken a new turn with field level forest staff who were on site at the time demanding action against the migrants for attacking government officials on duty, and removing the suspension of a forest beat officer.

When forest officials and staff went to the eco-sensitive zone of the Kinnerasni wildlife sanctuary to take up tree plantation works, a large group of Guthikoya tribals, armed with sticks, bottles of petrol, rushed to stop them.

Guthikoya community members supported by local politicians said they were attacked by the forest staff in the land they were cultivating. Forest staff said this was not the case and in turn, alleged that they were attacked. Even minister Danasari ‘Seethakka’ Anasuya stepped in, urging forest minister Konda Surekha to instruct forest officials not to disturb tribal community members tilling forest lands.

However, a subsequent inquiry by the forest department found that the Guthikoya families which migrated into Telangana from Chhattisgarh from 2014 onwards, occupied and cultivated approximately 230 acres of reserve forest land. Their claims were surveyed, but no recognised forest-right title has been issued in their favour following which the forest department staff were discharging their statutory duty of protecting government forest land and implementing an approved plantation programme.

The report also said that some of the tribal community members tried to set fire to an excavator, and attacked forest staff with sticks, even as some others warned the staff that their fate would be the same as that of forest range officer Ch. Srinivasa Rao, who was murdered allegedly by some Guthikoya community members in 2022 in the same district.

In all, nine forest personnel underwent medical examinations after the July 17 incident, including women beat officers who sustained injuries, the report said.

Edited clips of videos of the incident posted on social media did not reflect the full picture of the event, the report said, stating that they omitted obstruction of government work, threats to burn the excavator and assaults on forest personnel. Appropriate legal action has accordingly been initiated through POR No. 26-40/2024 dated 17 July 2026, the report further said.