ADILABAD: Tribal farmers in Routsankepalli village under Asifabad mandal of Kumurambheem Asifabad district obstructed forest officials from entering the village using bullock carts on Monday. They said they are unable to carry out cultivation due to the dispute with foresters.
The officials were obstructing farmers from entering the podu lands instead of issuing Recognition of Forest Rights (RoFR) certificates, they alleged. Farmers informed that as many as 30 farmers have been cultivating on 300 acres of land in Adda Ghat, Mengubai and Bondaguda villages under Routsankepalli gram panchayat (GP) limits, but the officials had been preventing them from carrying out cultivation for the last three years.
Though there were about 50 Forest Department staffers present, the tribal residents were able to thwart their efforts to enter the village. Farmers said that if the Forest Department encroached upon their lands, they would take up a large-scale agitation. They demanded that the government issue pattas so that they can carry out cultivation without unnecessary hassle from local authorities.
The residents pointed out that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced that pattas would be issued to in 2014, but no steps have been taken to implement the promise. Earlier this month, 12 tribal women from Koipochiguda in Dhandapelli mandal were arrested for obstructing trenching works.