Updated:
May 23, 2019 00:17 IST
Request participation in Haritha Haram to compensate for forest destruction three decades ago
Over three decades ago, adivasis of Girjai had destroyed a good
extent of forest cover under the influence of Maoists to convert the
clearings into agriculture fields. Now, they are hoping to make amends
by regrowing the jungle around them and protecting it, in what is being
viewed as a turnaround in their attitude towards the environment.
The
village was established by the then active Boath dalam of CPI
(Marxist-Leninist) People’s War, now known as CPI (Maoist), with the
settlement of landless poor aboriginal families from different parts of
erstwhile united Adilabad district. The habitation at present has 85
families tilling the forest clearing on which they were given
cultivation rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
For extra income
The
Raj Gond inhabitants of this remote village in Bazarhatnoor mandal on
Wednesday told a team of visiting Forest officials, led by Ichoda Forest
Divisional Officer M. Barnoba and Forest Range Officer R. Sheelanand,
that they want to participate in the Telanganaku Haritha Haram this year
by raising forest nearby. They requested the department to supply to
them plants, especially of fruit-bearing variety, which will help them
earn supplementary income.
“We will have the villagers pass a
resolution committing themselves to planting as many trees as possible
and protecting those. This will happen on the occasion of World
Environment Day on June 5,” said Adilabad District Forest Officer B.
Prabhakar who took the initiative of including the Girjai adivasis in
the plantation programme.
Villagers’ resolve
“We
want work. We will plant trees in our homes, in the village and around
the fields, apart from bald patches in the forest,” said Thodasam
Devidas, a resident.
“The government should develop a proper road
for us to reach the mandal headquarters. We also need to develop water
sources locally,” demanded Kumra Shankar, another villager.
Mr.
Barnoba assured the villagers that their commitment would earn the
department’s support in development. “We will get our officers to
examine the feasibility of constructing a check dam on the local stream
in addition to small tanks and percolation tanks,” he asserted.
Mr.
Prabhakar said the forest staff are making a list of families residing
there and the species of plants they require. “The villagers will be
given whatever plant types they demand even if it means purchasing those
from outside,” he added.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/adivasis-of-girjai-turn-a-new-leaf/article27211820.ece
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