Telangana Government To Distribute 11.5 Lakh Acres Of 'Podu' Lands Among Tribals
The beneficiaries will also be asked to work as forest protectors and a written commitment will be taken from them in this regard.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday announced that the distribution of 11.5 lakh acres of 'podu' lands ((shifting cultivation) among tribals across the state would begin this month end or the first week of March.
Speaking in the state Legislative Assembly on Friday, the CM said the 'pattas' (titles) wouldn't be given to the recipients until village committees, ZPTCs, sarpanches and tribal chiefs give the government a formal guarantee that there wouldn't be any further encroachment of forest lands.
The beneficiaries will also be asked to work as forest protectors and a written commitment will be taken from them in this regard, the CM said.
The Chief Minister said with the distribution of 'podu' lands during the current year, the issue would be closed forever and the government would act firmly to protect forests. He said the government would arrange patrolling by armed personnel after fixing the boundaries of forests.
"There should be an end to this issue. The government will not allow encroachment on even a yard of forest land because if we lose the green cover, the entire society will suffer," he said.
KCR said the government would provide not just 'pattas' (titles) to tribals titling these lands but would also supply electricity and extend the benefits of Rythu Bandhu, the investment support scheme for farmers.
KCR stated that police and forest personnel should not attack tribal members and should exercise restraint. "The government will not remain silent if some people take the law into their own hands and attack police and forest personnel," he further said.
Podu is the practice of shifting cultivation on forest land by tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers. They raise crops on a piece of land for one season and move to a different location the next.
The long-pending dispute led to clashes between the cultivators and the forest employees at several places in the state in recent years.
Stating that some political parties kept the issue alive to derive political benefits from it, KCR said his government was determined to put an end to this.
Realising the need to settle the long-pending issue once for all, the state government in 2021 decided to embark on an exercise to receive applications from eligible beneficiaries claiming 'podu' lands. The 'podu' lands were identified during a state-wide survey undertaken last year. The government received over 4 lakh claims from tribals and non-tribals alike.
The tribals and other forest dwellers claim that plantations by the Forest Department on 'podu' lands violate their rights, guaranteed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (RoFR Act).
The government received 4.14 lakh claims from 2,845 gram panchayats for issue of 'pattas' under RoFR Act. According to Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavati Rathore, 68 per cent of the applicants are tribal, and the remaining 32 per cent are non-tribal.The claims were made for 12.49 lakh acres of forest land by tribal and non-tribal farmers.
(With IANS inputs)
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