CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy has charged the TRS government of unleashing repressive measures against “podu” cultivators in a bid to drive them away from “podu lands” in the tribal sub-plan mandals of the district.
Mr. Reddy was speaking at a meeting in Pinapaka on Monday after visiting several tribal habitations and interacting with podu cultivators as part of a padayatra in the mandal. “The government is trying to intimidate the podu cultivators by foisting cases against those who resisted repressive measures,” he said, adding that that the destruction of crops in podu lands in the name of afforestation programme amounted to depriving tribal people their sole source of livelihood and rights over the lands in their possession for more than two to three decades.
He said the CPI will organise a protest demonstration in Hyderabad on August 5 to mount pressure on the government to uphold the rights of tribal people over “podu lands” as per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act and shun “repressive measures”.
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CPI State executive committee member K. Sambasiva Rao, district secretary B. Hemantha Rao, and others were also present.