Anantapur: Forest department on a mission to recover grabbed lands

Anantapur: Forest department under the leadership of DFO Jaganath Singh has embarked on a mission to redeem encroached forest lands from the clutches of vested interests and even common people, who merged adjoining reserve forest lands to their lands.

The DFO who applied his mind on re-claiming occupied forest lands has successfully taken back about 366 acres of reserve forest lands from the villages of Marutla, Shinganamala, Baddalapuram and Elutla in the district.

Talking to The Hans India on 'Operation Forest Lands Recovery,' Singh said that a survey was presently on progress by a committee comprising revenue and survey departments, who are jointly identifying and demarcating forest lands.

The revenue and police personnel including armed forest guards were roped in to supervise the operation and redeem the lands from the clutches of encroachers. The forest department with the purpose of averting encroachments digging 3 metre trenches which cannot be easily closed to classify forest lands from the non-forest and private lands.

The survey is likely to expose the forest land encroachment and completely reclaim all its lands encroached and enjoyed for decades by vested interests. The forest personnel had noticed removal of forest landmarks to give an impression that these were private lands.

In Marutla village 316 acres, Singanamala 8.46 acres, Baddalapuram 11 and Ellutla village 11 acres encroached lands have been recovered, Singh revealed.

The lands encroached were fertile red soils with horticulture plantations. These plantations are being uprooted and destroyed so that encroachers will have no hold over them. The forest department will replant fruit bearing trees in the reserve forest areas so that none will be tempted to occupy them.

Some of the encroachers are the ones with political background while some were ordinary people who just wanted to make hay while the sun shines. Some farmers who were enjoying the lands agreed to return forest lands after harvesting their crop, to which the forest officials accepted.

The encroachers had raised pomogranate, sweet oranges, and even vegetable crops and other commercial crops in the encroached reserve forest lands.