Sircilla: Podu farmers oppose Haritha Haram works

Sircilla: The tussle between the forest officials and podu farmers has been reaching its peak in recent times in the district.

With podu farmers opposing Haritha Haram works by forest department officials in the lands which they were cultivating. The forest authorities were still going ahead with the task of displacing the podu farmers. The podu farmers are often engaged in clashes with the forest department over the land issue.

According to sources, around 100 dalit families have been cultivating 80 acres of podu land on the outskirts of a forest at Garjanapally village of Veernapally mandal in the district to make a living.

On Friday forest officials tried to carry out works related to Haritha Haram by engaging laborers from other village but the dalit podu farmers fiercely resisted the forest authorities accusing them of trying to grab their lands.

High tension prevailed at Garjanapally village on Saturday when the forest officials tried to prevent a mass scale preparation by dalits to sow seeds in the podu lands. It led to heated arguments among the podu farmers and forest officials.