MULUGU: People of the Gothi Koya tribal community living in the Janagalancha forest area on Tuesday attacked Pasra range forest officials who went there after receiving information that the tribals were using forest lands for cultivations. On Tuesday, three forest officials from the Tadvai division entered the forest after learning that the tribals had cleared about 40 hectares of land at the Janagalancha forest area for cultivation.
As they reached the tribals’ settlements, the tribals attacked the officials with stones and sticks. All three of them, including beat officer Balakrishna and base camp staff member Narendar Babu, received serious injuries in the attack.
Later, one of the officials called up another beat officer who rescued the injured officials. Speaking to Express, Mulugu District Forest Officer (DFO) Pradeep Kumar Shetty said protecting podu lands from tribals was a challenge for them, and efforts towards this were leading to many such attacks on forest officials.