Cotton crop damaged: podu tillers stage rasta roko

Kothagudem: Tension prevailed for some time at Kottur village forest area when some podu farmers staged a rasta roko on the main road of Palvoncha accusing the forest officials of destroying their cotton crop on Wednesday night.

According to sources, around 20 tribal families have been cultivating cotton in 50 acres of podu land. Though the forest officials objected to cultivation in the podu lands, the tribals went ahead with cultivation and spent over Rs 20,000 on an acre. On Wednesday, the tribals left the fields in the evening. However, when they visited the fields on Thursday morning, they were shocked to see their crop destroyed completely. Irate over the this, they staged a rasta roko seeking strict action against the forest officials.

Reacting over the incident, district Rythu Sangham joint secretary A Satyanarayana faulted the forest officials and lambasted the State government for going back on the promise of providing land pattas to podu farmers.

Meanwhile, forest range officer K Anil refuted the accusations of podu farmers. He said if they wanted to remove the crops they would have done in daylight openly.