Attacks on Forest staff continue

Bhadradri- Kothagudem: With no end to the spate of attacks on forest officials in Telangana, the opposition parties are up in arms claiming that it was vote-bank politics of the TRS which was resulting in lack of control on party leaders who were indulging in attacks on men in uniform.

It may be mentioned here that in the last three days, three attacks by podu farmers against forest officials had been reported. While forest officer C Anitha suffered grievous injuries on Sunday, TRS MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao and his son lead the attack on forest officers on Monday and the same evening forest beat officer Bhasker and section officer Neelamaiah went to stop ploughing the forest lands by tribals at Thimmampet village in Mulkalpally mandal in the tribal district and remove the encroachment in compartment 344 in Gundlapadu reserve forest area. They had gone there without informing the police.

When the officials asked the tribals to stop work they attacked the forest staff and beat them up with sticks. The forest officials rushed to the village and rescued the two from being attacked.

The injured were immediately shifted to nearby hospital and provided necessary medical treatment.

Based on a complaint lodged by the Forest department officials, Mulkapally police registered a case against the villagers and launched manhunt to nab the accused. District Superintendent of Police (SP) Sunil Dutt said that strict action would be taken against those involved in the attack on Forest officers.

Cases were booked under the crime number 73/19, sections 148,324,353,506 r/w 149 IPC at the Mulkalpally police station.

The SP appealed to the forest officials to inform them before conducting searches for the removal of land encroachment in the tribal villages to ensure their safety. Police is ready to provide adequate security to the forest officials, he added.

Meanwhile, our Hyderabad correspondent adds that a delegation of senior forest officials met Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy and submitted a memorandum to him on the series of attacks on forest officers and demanded stringent action against those who were responsible They also sought protection for the officers on duty.

The Minister told them that the government had taken a serious view of the issue and would take necessary measures to see that such incidents do not recur.

Opposition wants CM KCR to act

Hyderabad: Coming down heavily on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not taking enough action in containing attacks on forest officials, the opposition parties wanted the chief minister to punish the TRS leaders involved in the incidents.

Telangana BJP senior leader Krishnasagar Rao on Tuesday said that it appears that the Chief Minister has lost control not only over state administration but also on the TRS party MLAs.

Reacting to the spate of incidents of attack on forest officials in the last three days, Rao said the Chief Minister should explain why he was maintaining stoic silence on the attacks on forest officials.

He wondered why the Heads of Departments were not responding to the attacks on the forest officials.

He demanded that the government should resolve the problems of the Podu farmers.

The Congress party also condemned the attack on the forest officers and demanded immediate stringent action not only against the villagers who were involved in incidents but also against the TRS leaders who led these attacks.