Leaders Prompting Multhanis To Attack Forest Staff, Police: Forest Officials
Politicians eyeing seats in local body polls adopting such tactics, say forest officials
ADILABAD: Forest officials in this district say some political leaders are instigating villagers from the Multhani community, who encroached forest lands, to confront forest staff in Ichoda mandal.
The Multhanis are said to be professional wood smugglers who migrated from Pakistan long back and settled in a few villages in this mandal.
According to the officials, local political leaders who are aspiring to contest the local body polls were behind such recent attacks on forest and police in Keshavapatnam.
“Nearly 1600 hectares of forest land have been encroached on the outskirts of Keshavapatnam, Sirichelma, Gundala and Yellammaguda villages in Ichoda mandal,” officials said.
Forest staff raided the Keshavapatnam area and seized teak wood valued at `6 lakh in January this year. Then also, the villagers (Multhanis) pelted stones at the forest staff. Eight persons have been arrested in these connections at Keshavapatnam on July 20.
Adilabad DFO Prashanth Patil said some local leaders who wanted to become Sarpanch after the local body polls had instigated the villagers (Multhanis) against the forest staff. The wood smugglers got political support in view of the approaching elections.
He said some Multhani professional wood smugglers used to do teakwood smuggling from the Pembi and Sirichelma forest areas of Adilabad district to Nizamabad. He proposed the setting up of a police station with armed police patrol at Sirichelma, where Multhani smugglers dominated the area.
“Wood smugglers developed a grudge against the forest staff after they registered cases against such Multhanis and started controlling their wood smuggling activity,” Patil claimed.
The DFO said the lower-grade staff are demanding that the state government provide weapons for the forest staff for their self-protection when they go to teakwood smuggling areas, and in the wake of incidents of tiger poaching.
“Forest staff need weapons for their self-protection while attempting to control the teakwood smuggling and poaching activity. Also, miscreants have been encroaching on the forest lands and destroying the valuable forests,” he said.
