Eluru: The Central Empowerment Committee appointed by the Supreme Court on Kolleru wildlife sanctuary demarcation and other issues visited Kolleru areas on Tuesday as part of a two-day tour. The team represented by Chandra Sekhar Goyal, Dr JR Bhatt, Banumathi G, Sunil Limaye and Prakash Chandra Bhatt was welcomed by Eluru district collector K Vetriselvi. Members of the Committee came to Kolletikota village in Kaikaluru mandal on Tuesday evening to examine the problems and current living conditions of the people of Kolleru. They learned about the problems of the people and received petitions from them at a programme organised in Kolletikota.

A programme was organised on this occasion which was attended by the members of the Committee, along with the Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly Kanumuri Raghuramakrishnam Raju, MLC Jayamangala Venkataramana, MLAs Dr Kamineni Srinivas, Chintamaneni Prabhakar, and Pathsamatla Dharmaraju.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Steel Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma said that he will stand by the people of Kolleru region and work to protect their interests. Varma, who participated as the chief guest in the meeting, said that more than 3 lakh people live in the Kolleru area. In addition to environmental protection and wildlife conservation, the living conditions of the people of the area are also important, he said. People of the Kolleru area are nature lovers and respect the forest laws while protecting the birds. He said that the government would strive to provide justice to the people of this area besides protecting the environment and birds. He said that the problem of the Kolleru area is many decades old.

He said that the confusion that arose due to the incorrect demarcation of the borders during the Kolleru operation in the past. It had become a matter of concern for the survival of the people there. He said that the rights of the Jirayati farmers in that area have been taken away.

State Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Kanumuri Raghuramakrishnam Raju said that the MLAs of the region have taken the living conditions of the people of Kolleru region to the attention of the Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and requested him to provide justice to them. Similarly, he requested that the Kolleru area be reduced from Contour 5 to 3 so that there is no disruption to environmental conservation and wildlife conservation in the Kolleru region.

District Collector Vetriselvi said that there are 122 villages in the Kolleru area and that members of the Central Empowerment Committee will visit the district for two days to examine environmental conservation, wildlife protection, and public issues in the Kolleru area.

Chandrashekhar Goyal, Member of the Committee, said that within the limits of the Supreme Court, the environmental protection and wildlife conservation in the Kolleru area, as well as the conditions of the people, will be examined and a report will be submitted.

Special Chief Secretary to the Government, Forest Department, Anantharamu, and MLC Jayamangala Venkataramana and others spoke.

Committee member secretaries Dr JR Bhatt, G Bhanumathi, committee members Sunil Limaye, Prakash Chandra Bhatt, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ajay Kumar Nayak, Fisheries Commissioner Ramashankar Nayak, SP K Pratap Sivakishore, DFOs Shubham, Vijaya, RDO Achyut Ambareesh, and officials from various departments participated.

The committee members were warmly welcomed by the people of Sriparru, Kalakurru, Atapaka, Kolletikota, Pydichintapadu, Prathikollalanka, Gudivakalanka, Mondikodu, and Chataparru villages and submitted petitions informing them of the problems of the people of the Kolleru area.