Hanumakonda: Gothi Koyas can't have Podu land

Hanumakonda: Efforts are on to grant land rights to podu cultivators, Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao said. Speaking at an all-party meeting on Podu and protection of forest land here on Wednesday, he recalled that the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had already constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee to resolve the issues pertaining to Adivasis who have been fighting for granting of rights on Podu land.

"The predicament is that the onus is on the government to protect the forest land as well as to resolve the Podu issue," Errabelli said, stating that CM was committed to find a solution that will end the issue once for all. The tribals who fulfill the norms of Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (RoFR) Act, 2006, also known as RoFR, will be granted rights on Podu cultivation. Simultaneously, the government has plans to improve forest cover in the State, Errabelli said. The government will not spare non-tribals who have been plundering the forest resources, he added.

Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavathi Rathod said that cases will be withdrawn of Podu cultivators if they are genuine. "Gothi Koyas who belong to Chhattisgarh will not get rights on Podu land. The claims of outsiders feigning as tribals will not be accepted. Their land will be taken back by the forest department," Rathod said. Stating that Podu claims are rampant in erstwhile Warangal, Khammam and Adilabad districts, she said that justice will be done to genuine Podu cultivators in accordance with the RoFR act.

Chief Whip D Vinay Bhaskar, Warangal MP Pasunuri Dayakar, Mahabubabad MP Maloth Kavitha and Rajya Sabha member Banda Prakash were among others present.