Tension prevailed in the tribal village of Vaipet in Sirikonda mandal of Adilabad district on Tuesday evening as Adivasi villagers threatened to assault forest officials and staff who went there to seize illegally felled timber stacked in the village. As the forest personnel loaded the timber in the tractor the villagers came and obstructed them from taking it away.
The tribal villagers maintained that the timber was meant for local use and was not to be smuggled out as the forest department alleged. On receiving information, District Forest Officer B. Prabhakar intervened and asked his officials and staff to withdraw. “I asked them to visit the village on Wednesday and verify the facts,” he told The Hindu. The raid conducted jointly by the Forest and Police departments is part of the ongoing drive to control illegal felling of forest.