Land rights demanded for podu farmers
Musheerabad: In the light of recent Supreme Court’s ruling for the eviction of tribal, a round table conference was held at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram in Baghlingampally on Wednesday to discuss on the topic, ‘Tribal, Forest Laws and Land Issues.’
Speaking at the meeting, general secretary of Rythu Sangham T Sagar said that land pattas are not being given to even a single acre of ‘podu lands’ in the state. He demanded the state government to issue land pattas to tribal land owners and to protect their land rights. He condemned the acquisition of lands from tribal on the guise of Haritha Haram, the state government initiative to enhance greenery. He criticized the state government for its failure to implement Forest Rights Act (FRA). He also condemned the attacks by the forest officials on carpenters and tribal and filing cases on them under PD Act. Terming the attacks of police and forest officials as atrocious, he said that serious cases have been filed against innocent carpenters accusing them of stealing bamboo trees.
T Sagar alleged that the state government is allotting forest lands illegally to mining companies. Doubts are being expressed on the recent Supreme Court’s ruling for eviction of tribal, as it seems to favour the government’s decision to hand over the forest lands and the collection and marketing of forest products to corporate companies, he added. He demanded the government to issue pattas to all the farmers who will be cultivating lands within next three months. As per FRA 2013, if it is proved that three generations of a family have cultivated land, then the land rights document should be issued to the family, he said. He demanded that full land rights be given to the podu farmers and to extend all the benefits of farmer welfare schemes.Until the process of issuing of land pattas to farmers is not completed, all the mining activities in the forest lands should be stopped, he demanded. He also called for withdrawal of cases filed against the tribal farmers and carpenters. He appealed to the people to give a united fight against state atrocities against tribal and carpenters.