At least 14 persons, including six farmers and eight Forest Department personnel, were injured when a group of villagers and a team of Forest Department staff fought a pitched battle at Marrigudem village in Chandrugonda mandal on Monday.
According to sources, a scuffle broke out between the Forest Department staff and a group of villagers comprising several tribal farmers when the latter resisted the attempts by the former to dig up trenches in a land as part of demarcation of forest land at the village.
The irate villagers consisting of several tribal cultivators vociferously opposed the “demarcation operation” terming it as a “ploy” to snatch away their “Podu lands”, their sole source of livelihood.
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They turned furious after noticing earth moving machines allegedly brought by the forest staff to carry out their operation to fix the boundaries of forest land in the village.
The infuriated villagers allegedly hurled stones at a JCB machine, damaging its windowpanes.
A pitched battle ensued between the angry villagers and the forest staff turning the village into a virtual war zone. Around six farmers were injured, one of them critically, in the scuffle.
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The grievously injured has been identified as Surya Prakash.
As many as eight forest department personnel including a woman employee were also injured in the melee.
The local police shifted the injured persons to the Singareni area hospital in Kothagudem and posted a picket in the village. The Chandrugonda police registered a case and initiated a detailed probe into the incident.