Machilipatnam: Act tough against forest land encroachers, officials told

Machilipatnam : Krishna district Collector P Raja Babu directed the officials concerned to take necessary steps to increase forest area in the district. He also asked to register criminal cases against those, who encroached on the forest land.

A district-level Conservation of Forest and Wildlife meeting was held at the Collectorate here on Friday. Presiding over the meeting, the Collector said that Krishna district has 28,008 hectares of forest area, which is just 7.42 per cent. It should have been about 33 per cent as per the National Forest Policy of 1988. He instructed the forest department officials and other department staff to take action toward developing the forest area. In order to do so, encroachments must be removed. He insisted on taking stringent action against encroachers and directed the officials not to spare anyone.

Collector Raja Babu said that they found out that around 310.39 hectares of forest land was encroached in Katrenipadu reserve forests and 635.77 hectares trespassed in Kanuru reserve forest. He asked to prepare a tourist circuit by connecting Hamsaladeevi, Mopidevi, Fishing Harbour, Machilipatnam port and other temples to spruce up Krishna district, a great tourist destination. The Collector ordered the officials to develop Nagara Vanam near Manginapudi beach in 20 acres to make available a pleasant atmosphere for the public.

DFO Rajasekhar, Additional SP Srihari Rao, DRO M Venkateswarlu, RDO I Kishore and others attended.