MLAs accuse foresters of 'overenthusiasm': Reports
HYDERABAD: The Telangana Forest department officials and staff were on Saturday accused of “acting with overenthusiasm” while discharging their duties, with MLAs complaining to the government that foresters are making their lives, and that of the people, difficult in the state.
The complaints came during a brief discussion on a Bill to decriminalise certain provisions of nine existing state laws, of which two were forest laws.
Questions were also raised over proposals for providing weapons to forest officials with CPI member K Sambasiva Rao asking the rationale of this move only because of some isolated incidents.
“Giving weapons to foresters will lead to jungle raj, giving them weapons is not right,” he said, adding that instead of seeking weapons, forest officials should solve problems of people so that no incidents are precipitated. He also said foresters were invoking the PD Act and arresting people and are even arresting politicians. “I too was threatened and I told them to do what they please,” he said.
The BJP’s Palvai Harish Babu calling on the government to “control forest officials,” said the excesses of these officials include targeting and torturing shepherds grazing their sheep in forest areas, collecting toll on NH 163 despite having no powers to collect road tolls. They say forests are getting destroyed. “If this was true, then why do we still have green cover?” he asked.
Harish Babu also said there was also the issue of tigers moving in his Sirpur constituency in KB Asifabad district whose forests constitute the tiger corridor forest area which is creating problems for the people. “People are scared to go into cotton fields as this is the breeding season for tigers and they have to go in groups for safety. The tigers come from Maharashtra and are supposed to go to Kawal Tiger Reserve but they do not. This is because two large open cast coal mines of Singareni — Dorli 1 and Dorli 2 — block the route,” he said.
He further said foresters were not allowing people to use tractors to till their land, and sometimes not allow people farming for decades not to enter their lands. “Sometimes, it appears like the forest department has encroached upon revenue land,” he said.
Legislative affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu said while the members' comments were taken note of, these issues could be discussed during specific department related discussions at a later time.
