KHAMMAM: Five days after Forest Range Officer Ch Sinivasa Rao was murdered by a member of the Gothi Koya tribe, the Forest department on Sunday issued notices to the tribals to vacate the forest area. In their notices, the forest officials said that no one has the right to live in forest areas as per the law. According to sources, notices were issued to 70 Gothi Koya tribal families living in Errabodu village.
Forest Divisional Officer A Appayya, who visited the village along with forest and police personnel, told the tribals to return to their native place. He told the media later that all the Gothi Koyas living in the forest areas in Telangana had migrated from Chhattisgarh after 2016. However, Ravva Ramesh, an elder of the Gothi Koya tribe, made it clear that they were in no mood to leave. “We are ready to die but won’t leave this place,” Ravva Ramesh said.