Kolam Adivasis of Rampur Kolamguda in Utnoor mandal of Adilabad district on Sunday forced Forest officials to stop digging of a trench in their village. They demanded booking of cases against the latter for trespass.
The Forest officials faced angry tribal people when they started digging a trench which the Adivasis claimed was running through the village. They also accused the officials of trying to snatch their land on which the government had given them rights to cultivate under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Adilabad District Forest Officer Sivala Rambabu denied the allegation. He said trenches are being dug to demarcate forest area so as to protect it from encroachment.
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“This is an ongoing process. We have been given a target of demarcating about 100 km of our lands before March,” he asserted.