Forest, Tribal departments cross swords over laid roads

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 13, 2006

HYDERABAD: Officials of the Forest and Tribal Welfare departments in Khammam district are crossing swords with each other over the road laid between Markode and Karkagudem in Kinnerasani wildlife sanctuary in Khammam district at a cost of Rs 68 lakh in July last year.

The forest officials contend that the road was disturbing the wildlife sanctuary, which has three tigers among the animal population. Once completed, the road work, taken up under the Centrally-sponsored Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY), will help speeding up developmental activities besides opening up 169 tribal habitations to better communication and other facilities in the tribal-dominated Gundala and Pinapaka mandals.

The district was selected for implementing the scheme on a pilot basis. Though the Forest officials sought the district Collector to direct the tribal welfare staff to stop the work, the latter refused.

When the Forest staff attempted to stop the work, the contractor and the locals revolted against them forcing the latter to seek police protection. Even the Paloancha DFO met the Project Officer of Bhadrachalam to get the work stopped but he too expressed his inability on the ground that it was meant for development of tribals.

Subsequently, a case has been registered by the forest officers against seven persons including four officials - project officer, executive engineer, deputy executive engineer and an assistant engineer - besides two contractors and a villager for violating the Forest Conservation Act.

In their report submitted to the higher-ups, the local forest officials said that during their inspection, the ITDA officials laid a road damaging the habitat for tiger and heritage of Kinnerasani wildlife sanctuary, which is inhabited by three tigers.

“The laying of road may lead to vanishing of all three tigers,” the officials claimed in their report.

“Taking up such road works in a wildlife sanctuary requires permission of the National Board of Wildlife and Supreme Court,” Forest officials told this website’s newspaper.