KOTHAGUDEM: The connivance of lower rung forest employees with the podu farmers and teak smugglers turned out to be a big problem for the forest department.
Several times during the monsoon, forest staff and podu farmers clashed in fifteen mandals in the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, including Mulakapalappli, Annapureddypalli, Gundala, Tekulapalli, Aswaraopet, Aswapuram, Laxmidevipalli, Charla, and Paloncha. Forest staff have sustained injuries more than five times in 2022 so far at the hands of podu farmers. Cases have been filed against the podu farmers.
The black sheep within the department became a headache for the higher officials. Ravikiran, a forest ranger working in Yellandu area, resorted to all types of corruption in the forest. He sold the Narepa Kalapa (a variety of teak) logs illegally, and he took money from podu farmers for not raiding their podu lands. The ranger, while working as Kachanapalli Range In-Charge, misused funds released to grow a forest nursery. A ten-page report was sent against him by the officials, and the government suspended him based on the report.
Encroachers in the guise podu farmers are not caring anybody due to the hidden support of such employees in the district. There are reports that forest staff are releasing the poachers after they fill up their pockets with money. Checking the wildlife poaching is not a big task for the forest officials and they knew all the poachers living near the forests. There are allegations that some of the officials are following the orders of ruling party MLAs instead of the higher officials of the department. The non-tribal podu farmers, who are raising eucalyptus plantations in hundreds of acres, are selling it by maintaining the forest staff. The logs are being sold to the ITC-Bhadrachalam company.
In Paloncha mandal, the sand and soil contractors, who are conniving with the forest staff, are mining the soil in forest lands illegally. A forest official, on condition of anonymity said, "The government should conduct surprise checks in the forests to expose the corruption points in the forests. Regular vigil is only one option to check the corruption".
