MLA slams forest staff for razing Chenchu houses

- Condemns forcible eviction of 22 families from forest land without serving notice
- Budda accuses of a FRO sexually harassing tribal girls
- Nandyal DFO condemns MLA charges; says families residing in forest land are not tribals

Kurnool: Srisailam MLA Budda Rajasekhar Reddy on Friday became furious over the inhuman attitude of the Forest department officials for forcibly demolishing dwellings of 22 Chenchu families at Chelama Chenchu Thanda on Thursday night without serving notice or rehabilitating them. He said that there were several pregnant women besides mothers, who just gave birth to newborn. Speaking to The Hans India, Reddy said that he had received information that forest staff had demolished 22 houses of Chenchu families. He stated that there is a process for eviction and without following the due process, the department has forcibly demolished the houses.

As a result, 22 families have become homeless. The MLA said that the Chenchus at Chelama Thanda are the natives of forest dwelling and has been residing for the last 100 years. Now, the government has provided a school and Anganwadi center besides allocating teachers, he said and added the government had sanctioned them with ration cards. Without bringing to the notice of the district administration or the local MLA, forest staff had misused their powers for demolishing tribal dwellings, he alleged.

The MLA accused that a Forest Range Officer (FRO) is sexually harassing the tribal girls after calling them to their office. “We have filed a case on the FRO and the same was taken to the notice of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Even, we are approaching the State Human Rights Commission for initiating action against official,” he stated.

Speaking to The Hans India, Nandyal Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) M Shiva Prasad has denied the MLA charges and said that they are not Chenchus. There are only 15 families not 22 and out of 15 families, 11 families belong to Schedule Caste and 4 families are Dasari Chenchus that are noted under BC category, Reddy stated and said that a Chelama Thanda was there 30 years ago after British had laid a narrow-gauge railway line. The narrow-gauge has now been modified to broad gauge, he stated.

While converting to broad gauge line, the entire families dwelling there at that time were shifted to another place called Anjaneyapuram. The displaced Chenchu families are living in Anjaneyapuram. The DFO said 15 families, who are not Chenchus, are staying illegally. “The Forest department had serve notices to 15 families on several occasions to vacate the land.

One Chenna Reddy of Gajulapalli has given in a writing that he will ensure their shifting within a month,” he stated. Despite serving notices, the forest official said the families did not vacate the land. He further stated that they are not allowed to reside in the forest land. He condemned the sexually abuse by the FRO on tribal girls. He made an appeal to the media to project the things in the right manner after knowing the facts.