These villagers cut trees to appease rain gods

Chinnakodur (Medak): It is that time of the year when villagers in many parts of Telangana offer sheep as a sacrifice to Pochamma Thalli, their village deity, praying for sufficient rains, a good yield and prosperity of the village. It is celebrated just before the onset of the sowing season.

It was no different at Kammarlapally village of Mylaram gram panchayat in Chinnakodur mandal, where the Pochamma Thalli festival was held on Sunday by a particular community of the village. As the procession comprising men playing drums and women carrying Bonalu was being taken from the Dalitwada to the Pochamma temple, people from other communities were busy cutting down trees. And this emphasises the irony of the situation.

Through these acts of deforestation, the villagers are actually harming the prospects of what they are praying to the deity for: sufficient rains, a good yield and prosperity. It is a different matter that the villagers neither have permission for felling trees nor do they seek to compensate their acts by planting trees elsewhere.

The felling continued till late in the evening. Two neem trees and one coconut trees were part of the trees uprooted. The villagers have their own reasons for doing so. They fear that the trees posed a serious threat to their houses as they had grown to the roofs of their houses which were made of planks.

They also feared that the electricity wires which were laid on the streets, along the poles, were in danger of snapping if strong winds resulted in the trees falling on them. They believed that the monkey menace too could be curbed to an extent if the trees were cut, as it would restrict the movement of the simians along the rooftops.

It is a fact that monkeys have been creating havoc in the villages by raiding the crops of the farmers, but the villagers do not realise that it is deforestation in the hills and forests which is forcing the monkeys to enter the villages in search of food. And the trees do indeed pose a threat to the electricity wires.

But recently, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao had sanctioned Rs 200 crore for renovation and relocation of electric lines. The power lines could have been relocated to a safer location without cutting down the trees, but the gram panchayat did not seem to be interested.

In fact, it was the husband of the village Sarpanch who had ordered the trees to be cut down. The owner of the two neem trees was not displeased either as he pocketed Rs 2,000 by selling them to a bidder.

“There are more trees near the hills which can yield plenty of wood,” commented one of the labourers engaged in cutting down the trees. Neighbours, who got wind of what was happening, also started cutting down trees in their backyards.

By:vivek bhoomi