HYDERABAD/ADILABAD: The recent announcement that 1,492.88 sq km of forest land previously designated as tiger corridor forest as a “conservation reserve” continues to raise political hackles in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district leaving forest officials grappling with the fallout, especially in the wake of panchayat raj minister Danasari ‘Seethakka’ Anasuya assuring local MLAs that she will take up the matter of cancelling the declaration to the notice of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.The Komaram Bheem Conservation Reserve that covers 1,492.88 sq. km in the Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, has emerged as a latest flashpoint between efforts to protect forest and wildlife in Telangana and fears that any protection status to forests means robbing people of their rights.Seethakka, on Wednesday, responding to complaints from MLAs including Payam Venkateswraluru, Vedma Bojju Patel, Kova Laxmi, and Anil Jadhav that the May 30 dated government orders on the conservation reserve were set to rob locals of their rights with respect to forest land, had assured them that suitable action will be taken on their concerns and that the issue will be taken up with the Chief Minister. The MLAs complained that the forest department officials were violating, in the guise of protecting forests, the 1996 Provisons of the Panchayats (extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. Wednesday’s meeting of Adivasi MLAs, chaired by the Minister, also passed a resolution that forest officials cannot enter any village, or enter land being cultivated inside forest areas without prior permission of the respective grama sabha under the pretext of saving forests.The newly declared conservation zone forest areas is a vital link for tigers moving into Telangana from the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve into the Kawal Tiger Reserve. People from several tribal villages have already been protesting opposing the conservation reserve and alleged harassment by forest officials. Instead of harassing the people, the government must issue podu pattas for land being cultivated in the tiger corridor forest areas, the villagers have been demanding.The forest department, meanwhile, has been trying to inform people that declaration of conservation zone status will in no way impact the already existing rights of the people living in villages falling in the zone. There will be no curtailing of any existing rights of local communities that were available to them at the time of notification of the area as a reserve forest in the past. Activities including cattle grazing, existing rights of way, beedi leaf collection, and not timber forest produce will not be affected, officials explained.There will be mor jobs for local youth as animal trackers, guides, forest protection watchers, safari drivers, and other ecotourism related opportunities, while development of check dams and water bodies will help local communities, with additional provisions for solar fencing of crop areas to protect against wild animals. The officials also said that there will be no relocation of villages unless there is consent for the same from the people.
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