All-party leaders demand justice to Podu farmers

Khammam: The All-Party leaders committee for the protection of Podu farmers demanded the State government stop harassing tribal community people. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, former five-time MLA and CPI-ML New Democracy leader Gummadi Narsaiah demanded the government to stop evicting the Adivasis from their natural habitats.

“In the name of Haritha Haram, the government is infringing upon the rights of tribal people under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and other safeguards provided by the constitution,” he said, accusing the rulers of being insensitive towards the problems of Adivasis.

Notwithstanding umpteen numbers of appeals made by various social fora, the government is hell bent on damaging the standing crops on Podu land, CPI-ML State leader Rayala Chandrasekhar said, terming it as inhumane on part of the forest department and the police.

CPI (M) State leader Macha Venkateswarlu questioned the rationale behind evicting Adivasis from their Podu land being tilled by them for many years. The TRS government, which promised three acres of land to Dalits and tribals, is in fact snatching away their land, Telugu Desam leader P Venkateswar Rao alleged, pointing out the distress of the tribals when they visited the Agency recently.

The leaders demanded compensation to the Podu farmers whose standing crops were damaged by the forest officials, besides lifting the false cases foisted against them. They threatened the government of dire consequences if it fails to bring back the normalcy in the Agency. Leaders Balaji Naik (Congress), Jallipalli Saidulu (YSR Congress), Hanuma Naik (Aam Admi Party), Merugu Satyanrayana, Puli Saidulu and PS Reddy were among others present.