New Delhi: The Telangana forest department Monday carried out a mass plantation drive at the site in Kagaznagar, where a woman forest range officer was brutally attacked Sunday.
Around 400 members of the department planted saplings on 20 hectares of land where range officer Chole Anitha was attacked by a mob led by Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) leader Koneru Krishna Rao. They were accompanied by the state police and other personnel.
The place where lady range officer was attacked. Plantation was done at same location today by 400 FD, police & other personals. All nearby senior officers were present & 20 hectare was planted to save land from future encroachment. Much required step & befitting reply. pic.twitter.com/ufg1VqUiJF
— Parveen Kaswan (@ParveenKaswan) July 1, 2019
In a bid to boost the morale of the often neglected and beleaguered forest staff, senior IFS officers of the state, including the chief conservator of forests and district forest officers posted nearby, also participated in the drive.
Forest department staff from nearby also joined in uniform in solidarity with the local staff. Chief Conservator of forest & nearby posted DFOs also remained on spot to support. A much required step for boosting the morale of local staff. pic.twitter.com/npvuIdSL6d
— Parveen Kaswan (@ParveenKaswan) July 1, 2019
“The idea is to put up a united front in the face of such attacks,” said an IFS officer from the state on condition of anonymity. “That is why forest staff went there in such large numbers.”
Trouble started Sunday after Anitha went to Sarsala forest village in Kagaznagar to plough a 20-acre piece of land under a mass tree plantation drive, part of the state government’s ambitious plantation programme. A Bangalore Mirror report said Rao arrived at the spot after being alerted by some villagers of the forest department’s activity. According to Rao, the land where the department was trying to carry out the afforestation activity belonged to farmers.
Attack that went viral
In videos of the attack that have gone viral, range officer Chole Anitha can be seen being violently attacked by a mob led by Rao, who is the brother the Kagaznagar MLA Koneru Konappa.
She’s attacked even as she tries to protect herself by climbing atop a tractor. The police look on until the woman officer falls from the tractor — injured and whimpering in pain.
As the attack received widespread condemnation on social media, however, police promptly swung into action and arrested Rao on the same day.
Commenting on the attack a day later in the Rajya Sabha, Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “We are taking it very seriously because it cannot be tolerated. We as regulators will do whatever is possible.”
However, an IFS officer, who did not wish to be identified, said that if the government really wants to do something about these attacks, it needs to first fill the crippling vacancies in forest departments across the states, and strengthen the forest staff.
“There are 40-70 percent vacancies in forest departments… The only real solution is to fill in those vacancies,” the officer said.
Also read: All about Telangana’s Kaleshwaram, one of the world’s biggest irrigation projects