On Saturday, November 19, some women from the Shivalingapur and Akkepalli villages in Chennur mandal in Telangana’s Mancherial district cut down some trees in the forest. Forest officials allegedly took five of the women who opposed them to the Chennur forest camp office by force. The women were reportedly locked in the camp office for two hours and physically assaulted for resisting. The women said that they have been cultivating on the land for more than 25 years and accused the forest officials of harassing them by saying that they are cutting trees on government land.
According to reports, the incident took place when some women cut down trees planted by the department in Podu lands. The women alleged that they were locked up inside the office, and verbally abused and slapped for going against the officials. The women were released later in the evening.
Following this, the village residents staged a protest in front of the camp office. They also demanded that Balka Suman, the Chennur MLA, should provide them with documents for the land on which they have been cultivating. The tribals who participated in the programme said that they will intensify protests in the coming days.
Podu is a traditional form of slash-and-burn agriculture or shift cultivation, a technique that has been used for centuries by tribal communities living in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The residents living on the boundary of forest areas in Adilabad, Mancherial, Mahabubnagar, and Khammam districts have been cultivating Podu lands, which are claimed by the Forest Department as government land. There are thousands of petitions claiming cultivation rights on Podu lands that are pending at different levels.
Scuffles between officials and tribals have been taking place for several years over the rights of Podu lands. In November 2021, the Telangana government declared that it would grant worthy claimants land title deeds, but this was abruptly stopped in December. A tense situation ensued on July 7 this year, when Forest Department employees landed in Koyaposhagudem village in Dandepally mandal in Mancherial district and attempted to destroy the huts that farmers had erected on disputed forest land. When the farmers resisted, they were dragged and detained by the forest officials.