Meeting a long-pending demand of tribals, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday launched distribution of titles for more than 4 lakh acres of Podu land across the state.
He formally launched the programme in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district by handing over documents to 12 Adivasi beneficiaries.
KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said 4.06 lakh acres of Podu lands will be distributed among 1.5 lakh farmers across 26 districts.
The programme was launched simultaneously by the ministers in different districts. The land titles are being issued in the name of women beneficiaries.
In Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, pattas were given for 47,000 acres of Podu lands in one day.
The Chief Minister said the distribution of pattas will be completed in 2-3 days.
The beneficiaries will also received financial assistance of Rs10,000 per acre at par with other farmers under Rythu Bandhu schemes.
KCR said that Podu land pattas are also being given to non-tribals, provided they prove that their families have been residing in those land for the last 75 years.
He said due to legal issues, this process is taking time.
The Chief Minister also directed the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police to withdraw cases of forest land encroachment booked against those tribals who have now receive the land titles.
He also directed the officials to immediately make arrangements to ensure three-phase electricity connections to agricultural lands in the forest areas.
In February this year, the Chief Minister had announced that 11.5 lakh acres of Podu lands will be distributed. He told the Assembly that the government will provide not just pattas (titles) to tribals tilling these lands but will also supply them electricity and extend benefits of Rythu Bandhu, and investment support scheme for farmers. He, however, made it clear that after completion of this process, there will be no podu land and if the beneficiaries try to encroach forest land, their pattas will be cancelled.
The Chief Minister said a written undertaking will be taken from those being given pattas that they will stake no further claim on forest lands.
Signatures of village committees and local public representatives will also be taken on the undertaking. The beneficiaries will also be asked to work as protectors of forests and a written commitment will be taken from them in this regard.
KCR had also stated that the issue will be closed forever and the government would act firmly to protect forests. He said after fixing the boundaries of forests, the government would arrange patrolling of armed personnel.
Podu is the practice of shifting cultivation on forest land by tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers. They raise crops on a piece of land in one season and move to different locations the next season.
The long-pending dispute led to clashes between the cultivators and the forest employees at several places in the state in recent years.
Realising the need to settle the long-pending issue once for all, the state government in 2021 decided to embark an exercise to receive applications from eligible beneficiaries claiming Podu lands. The Podu lands were identified during a state-wide survey undertaken last year. The authorities received over 4 lakh claims from both tribals and non-tribals. The tribals and other forest dwellers claim that plantation by the Forest Department on Podu lands violate their rights, guaranteed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (RoFR Act).
The government received 4.14 lakh claims in 2,845 gram panchayats for issue of ‘pattas’ (titles) under RoFR Act. According to Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavati Rathore, 68 per cent of the applicants are tribals and remaining 32 per cent are non-tribals.
The claims were made for 12.49 lakh acres of forest lands by tribal and non-tribal farmers.
The Chief Minister had earlier suggested that tribals involved in the Podu cultivation within the forest should be provided with an alternative government land nearby for cultivation. If there is no government land available, they should be provided with land on the outer periphery of the forestland.
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