Telangana’s forests lost in the woods | Rejected podu land claimants kept in the dark
Updated Apr 5, 2021, 4:58 am IST
The tribal welfare department, had processed 96,676 claims and approved farming rights over 3.08 lakh acres of forest land in the state
Though the state government has repeatedly said that it will address once and for all the issue of podu lands and provide 'some kind of pattas' to the claimants, it might not be as simple as it sounds. (DC file photo)
Hyderabad: The forests in Telangana state are under siege, from thousands of fires chewing through hundreds of acres regularly, to illegal occupation, demands from cattle herders and sheep rearers to be allowed to graze their animals, and from people demanding pattas to a few lakh acres they have occupied on which they practice ‘podu’, or shifting, cultivation.