Rayachoti: Police arrest tribal leaders

Rayachoti (Annamayya district): Police on Thursday arrested AP Girijana Samakhya State general secretary B Viswanath Naik and Lambada Association national leader M Sankar Naik on the charges of attacking District Forest Officer (DFO) Vivek, when he attended the district Collector’s meeting on Wednesday. They were shifted to remand on Thursday evening.

Going into details, tribals have been cultivating forest lands in Annamayya district since several years. Tribal organisations have been demanding the government to provide the lands to them under Rights of First Offer (ROFO), since long. They brought the issue to the government’s notice through the district Collector and Forest Minister P Ramachandra Reddy several times.

On Wednesday, Girijans in large numbers from Shikari Palem village of Sundupalle mandal, headed by AP Girijana Samakhya State general secretary B Viswanatha Naik surrounded DFO Vivek at Rayachoti, who came to attent the Collectors meeting. Girijans alleged that the DFO was responsible for rejecting the file.

DFO Vivek lodged a complaint with the police, alleging that Tribals attacked him when he was on official duty. Based on the complaint, police registered cases and arrested two Girijan leaders on Thursday.

Addressing the media at Rajampet on Thursday, DFO Vivek alleged that Girijans headed by Viswanath Naik and Sankar Naik tried to attack him at the Collectorate. He said some persons belongs to Shikaru Palle village tried to illegally occupy government lands by creating bogus papers. He explained that as they were proved fake after checking, he rejected the file on September 10. Unable to digest this, Girijans tried to attack me, the DFO stated.