Overview
- Forest department personnel say trench-digging for a CAMPA afforestation project in Compartment No. 165 led to a physical clash with groups of local Adivasi/podu farmers, including women, on July 17, leaving several people with minor injuries.
- Officials say about 20 hectares had been marked for restoration, boundaries were demarcated in a June 29 meeting with residents, and plantation work began in early July before repeated reported obstruction.
- District Forest Officer G. Kista Goud says staff submitted police complaints plus photographs, video and medical reports and that some employees present were also from tribal communities, describing their actions as self-defence.
- A viral video circulated on social media that allegedly shows forest personnel assaulting a tribal woman, and political parties including the Jana Sena and CPI (ML) New Democracy have demanded action against forest staff.
- The Aswapuram police investigation and higher forest authority checks are ongoing, and the outcome will affect how compensatory afforestation projects proceed in areas where customary podu farming overlaps with claimed forest land.