Srikalahasti MLA B Madhusudhan Reddy distributes essentials to tribals in Sadasivakona forest area

Tirupati: YSRCP MLA from Srikalahasti B Madhusudhan Reddy on Thursday ventured into forest to provide essentials- rice, provisions, fruits, vegetables and eggs to 225 tribal families held up in Sadasivakona forest area.

MLA along with some party men including Yerpedu mandal president Kishore Reddy started on tractor carrying the essentials to some distance and then in a bullock cart in the forest to reach the tribal families, residing in temporary huts, 22 km from the plain area.

Reddy started his journey with essentials at around 9 am from Payalcentre village and reached the families in forest at around 12 noon and handed over the essentials to them. Tribal families felt very much happy to receive the essential commodities from the MLA.

The 225 tribal along with their families from the villages of Payalcentre, Sivagiri Colony, Kandadu, Kukkalagunta Sadasivapuram tribal hamlets went into the forest for collecting Indian date palm leaves (Eetha aaku) after Sankranti in the last week of January.

These leaves have good demand from traders engaged in making varieties of products like ropes, baskets, mats and also art items. However the tribal families stayed back in the forest after their men informed them not to return home as lockdown was declared. After the exhaust of provisions they carried, the tribal families started surviving on eating leaves and roots in the forest.

After coming to know about the plight of tribals, MLA Kishore Reddy and others went into the forest and distributed essential commodities to them adequate for three weeks. MLA spent about two hours with tribal families and asked them to come back to town soon.