Chenchus, the nomadic tribes dwelling in the Nallamalla forests spread acros Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State, could soon get a ringside view of the proceedings of the Telangana Legislative Assembly.

These tribals have for the first time visited Warangal town, the nearest big, urban place from their homes recently, the Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, said, announcing his intention to get a group of Chenchus to his gallery soon.

The ancient tribals live in abject poverty, unable to afford decent clothing and still hunt rats in the field for survival, the Speaker told a gathering of over 2,000 members of the Lions Clubs from Telangana and Karnataka, here recently.

“I saw two different worlds -- outside the gate (group of Chenchus) of this venue and the event inside. The Chenchu tribal families from Chennapur village in Regonda mandal and Jadalapeta (Bhavusinghpally) in Chityala mandal in Warangal are struggling to eke out a living,'' he said.

There were more than 1,200 Chenchus in 19 habitats. The Speaker urged the Lions Club units to take up charity and service activtes (education, nutrition, food and medical assistance) to bring a definitie change in the lives of the Chenchus.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of Chenchus was around 64,000 spread in three districts of AP (Prakasam, Guntur and Kurnool) and two in Telangana (Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda). Interestingly, the Chenchus co-habit with a dwindling number of Tigers as the region houses the biggest Nagarjunasagar Tiger Reserve.

The Lions Clubs marking their 100 years celebration also honoured 6 Padma Awarnees -- Chandrakant Pithawas (Scientist), BVR Mohan Reddy (industry); Alla Gopalakrishna Gokhale (Healthcare); V D Ramaiah (environmentalist). Abdul Waheed (Unani) and Aekka Yadagiri Rao (sculptor).