Podu land issue: Telangana to accept claims after Dasara, allow one-time settlement
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday said the state government would start accepting claims from all those persons who are in possession of podu land across the districts.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 6 Oct 2021 3:06 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday said the state government would start accepting claims from all those persons who are in possession of podu land across the districts.
The claims would be accepted from the third week of this month after Dasara. KCR made the announcement in the Assembly. Podu is that stretch of land on which the tribals undertake cultivation in forest areas.
The Chief Minister said the government would ensure that land is assigned to tribals. He said committees headed by MLAs would be constituted in all the districts to address podu land issue.
He said local MLAs should take the responsibility for selecting the eligible beneficiaries in a transparent manner.
The Chief Minister said the state government, after receiving these claims, would resolve this issue once and for all with a strict condition that no more forest land encroachments would be accepted in the future.
"If we allow encroachment in the name of podu land, no forest will be left. I am not talking about tribals. In fact, tribals don't harm forests. They safeguard forests. They believe their survival is directly proportional to forests. But vested interests are encroaching forest lands in the name of tribals. This should be curbed strictly," he said.
The Chief Minister clarified that the ownership of podu land could not be changed as per existing Centre's laws and Supreme Court directions. But tribals would be allowed to carry out agricultural activities on the land, he said.
