After cracking the whip on timber smugglers belonging to the Multani community of Adilabad district, the government is set to show its humane side to them by rolling out a scheme to rehabilitate the habitual offenders.
In a video conference on Monday, Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi had assured Adilabad Collector D. Divya of immediately clearing the proposal for creation of an economic support scheme for rehabilitating the economically poor Multanis involved in timber smuggling.
The 5,849 strong community living in Keshavpatnam, Jogipet, Gundala and Yellammaguda villages in Ichoda mandal are basically poor farmers. Only about 100 of them own lands while 832 farmers cultivate 2,372 acres of assigned government land in these villages.
“Agriculture is our primary occupation but some of our people took to timber smuggling as our farms were rendered unviable owing to lack of irrigation,” pointed out Sk. Masood, an Intermediate educated person from Keshavpatnam.
“We need a couple of irrigation tanks at Mankapur and Gaidpally for our fields to be irrigated and to provide us the scope to completely involve ourselves in cultivation and taste development,” he added, hinting the area which needs to be on top priority whenever the rehabilitation plan takes shape.
The Multanis also want jobs for the youth, hundreds of whom are no better than wastrels. The youth have neither education nor other skills based on which employment could be sought.
The rate of literacy is quite dismal with only two schools to upper primary level, an Urdu and a Telugu medium facility run by the government in Keshavpatnam and Gundala. The Urdu medium has 300 children on rolls and the Telugu medium school has 150 but the drop out rate is quite high.
“I hope the government provides Class IV jobs to at least a handful of our youth, it will be reassuring,” Mr. Masood said. “This is preferable to bank loans,” he opined. “The proposed plan takes care of almost all aspects in the life of these people. A committee has identified 119 Multanis to be eligible for the economic support scheme which starts with a loan of ₹ 2 lakh per person or per family for the purpose of rehabilitation,” revealed Adilabad District Forest Officer B. Prabhakar.
“The committee has also emphasised on development of agriculture, education to children in residential schools, better health facilities etc. We will certainly prioritise these items on the agenda so that it suits the needs of the community and achieves desired results,” he added.
