Osmania University students' JAC along with the district unit of the Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika will conduct padayatras in the interior mandals to educate tribals, though the forest department has allayed the apprehensions of displacement of tribals.
Students have started touring villages and conducting door-to-door campaign against the tiger reserve. Villagers of Udampur and Allampalli in Utnoor mandal passed unanimous resolutions against the tiger reserve, emboldened by the student stir. The Kawal tiger reserve will have a core area of 839 square km and buffer zone of 1,123 sq km.
OU JAC chairman Jagan told TOI that gram sabhas or panchayats should be consulted as per the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas ( PESA) Act, 1996, before acquiring land in the scheduled areas for any development project. "But the forest officials did not bother to consult a single village panchayat," he said. He found fault with the government and forest officials for going ahead with the tiger reserve plan without taking the opinion of the majority adivasis, who would be displaced because of the project. "Tribals would lose their legitimate right on the forest once they are evacuated from the forest limits," he observed. Read the full report here.
Source: Raghu Paithari, TNN, Adilabad.
