NTCA to send official to Kawal for inspection

HYDERABAD: The National Tiger Conservation Authority which sought an action taken report from the Kawal Tiger Reserve officials over allowing unauthorised construction of a playground complex in the core area of the reserve, is expected to send one of its senior officers for an inspection to the reserve soon.

Meanwhile, the battle between the panchayat raj and forest departments appears to have cooled down somewhat with panchayat raj officials, late on Thursday night, unsealing the office of the Kadam forest range officer that was locked up after the FRO, Ch. Anitha, questioned the construction.

The unsealing of the office took place after the forest department filed a preliminary offence report naming three PR department officials as accused in violating forest and wildlife conservation laws by starting construction of the playground complex. The filing of the POR itself, followed instructions from the NTCA for an action taken report on the playground issue. The visit by the NTCA officer is a follow up for an on the ground inspection of the state of affairs in the tiger reserve.

Investigations by Deccan Chronicle have, meanwhile, revealed that this was not the first time that the panchayat raj department had used strong arm tactics of sealing forest department offices, or even carting away furniture from the offices when faced with resistance to implementation of different components of Palle Pragati programme — construction of garbage dump yards, creating village gardens, graveyards and crematoria, and from this year, construction of playground complexes — over the past few years under the guise of forest staff not paying local taxes to the panchayat raj department. For instance, last year, in the former unified Warangal district, furniture from a forest department office was summarily taken away by panchayat raj department officials when forest staff did not agree to dump yard proposals. The issue was sorted out and the furniture returned only after the matter was taken to the notice of top bureaucracy in Hyderabad following which the furniture was returned. Similarly, also in the same district, another FRO’s office was sealed but was later reopened.

Deccan Chronicle has learnt that in a rush to fulfil targets set by the state government for individual districts for creating various facilities under the Palle Pragati programme, enormous pressure is being exerted on the forest department for land. Interestingly, it was the forest department that had issued orders to allow creating of Prakruti Vanams (nature gardens) in one acre plots of forest land abutting villages, first in 2020, and then again May this year in which up to 10 acres of forest land was allowed to be used for setting up these gardens. Many graveyards, and garbage dumps have already been set up in forest lands across the state during the previous rounds of the Palle Pragati programme.

Sources said that there are several proposals that have been put forward by panchayat raj officials seeking forest land for more sports complexes in forest areas in several districts but for now, they have been put on hold.