Hyderabad: Day after attack, foresters get cop cover for plantation drive

Officials enganged in the afforestation drive in Kagaznagar on Monday
HYDERABAD: Armed with automatic weapons, 250 policemen threw a security blanket in Kagaznagar on Monday as forest officials reclaimed 20 hectares a day after a women forest range officer (FRO) was attacked by a mob allegedly instigated by ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders.
Faced with an unprecedented situation, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao ordered immediate resumption of the afforestation drive in the disputed area in Telangana’s Asifabad district.
“We went in large numbers to build up morale in the minds of the field-level officers of the forest department. We are expecting the plantation drive in the remaining land also to go on peacefully,” said Ramagundam commissioner of police Sathyanarayana.
Witnesses said the area was teeming with cops and about 300 forest officials of all ranks were present at the site..
Opposition tears into TRS government
Opposition parties tore into the government for failing to protect FRO CH Anitha who had gone to oversee ploughing of a degraded forest land in an afforestation drive on Sunday when a mob led by Koneru Krishna Rao, the younger brother of TRS’s Sirpur constituency legislator, Koneru Konappa, beat her up as cops watched.
Speaking to TOI on Monday, Anitha demanded that action be taken against the TRS leader. “The MLA had threatened us that he would instigate villagers to attack us. I never imagined that I would be beaten like this without even considering that I am a woman. This attack is on a woman, a uniformed officer and the department,” Anitha kept murmuring from her hospital bed.
Authorities planted saplings at the encroached land near Kotha Sarsala village in Kagaznagar mandal without any opposition, unlike what happened on Sunday. Officials said they would complete plantation in the 20 hectares. About 20,000 saplings are going to be planted in the land over the next two or three days.
The degraded forest land was allotted under compensatory afforestation for plantation in a 20-hectare block as thousands of hectares had earlier been diverted for Kaleswaram irrigation project.

Monday’s operation at Kagaznagar comes a day after the Telangana government suspended DySP P Sambaiah and rural inspector of police Venkatesh for dereliction of duty. Koneru Krishna had also resigned as ZP vice chairman.
In Hyderabad’s Aranya Bhavan, hundreds of forest department officials from across the district landed for a state forest officers meeting where security of foresters were highlighted. D V Reddy, chairman, Telangana United Foresters Federation, said there were four key demands, including arrest of the accused involved in Sunday’s attack under PD Act, request for a thorough investigation, prevention of encroachment and a fast-track court to deal with forest-related cases.
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