Ahead of the state Assembly elections later this year, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday begun the distribution of Podu pattas to about 1.5 lakh forest dwellers in the southern state.
The initiative is expected to garner electoral support for the ruling BRS in forest area constituencies while also helping reduce the frequent clashes between the Adivasis, other forest dwellers, and forest and police department officials over use of forest lands for cultivation and other purposes.
The BRS government has already brought in Dalit Bandhu, a welfare scheme for Scheduled Castes (SCs) under which a Rs 10 lakh free grant is provided to SC families as aid to set up businesses or self-employment avenues as per their choice.
Soon after assuming his chair in the newly-built state secretariat complex two months back, CM KCR signed the file on the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in 2023-24. The file pertains to extending Dalit Bandhu benefits to 1,100 SC beneficiaries in each of 118 Assembly constituencies, except n Huzurabad where the Rs 10 lakh aid scheme was implemented in full capacity during the bypoll there in 2021.
The CM on Friday signed the second file related to distribution of Podu land titles.
On Friday, KCR visited the Komaram Bheem district in north Telangana, where he handed the Podu pattas to a few Girijan women.
Over 1.5 lakh Girijan farmers are set to get rights over 4.06 lakh acres of forest land under the Podu patta distribution exercise across the state, which will be completed in three days.
Addressing the meeting at Asifabad, KCR said that all the pattas (title documents) will be in the name of women members of the beneficiary families and that they would be handed Rythu Bandhu too, his government's annual farm incentive of Rs 10,000 per acre.
“There are some non-tribal farmers (seeking Podu pattas). They have to prove their residence, ancestral connection of 75 years with the respective forest areas. A system would be put in place to do justice to them too,” KCR said.
The chief minister also directed officials to move to withdraw encroachment cases registered earlier against the Adivasis as the government is now handing them the pattas, implementing the land regulation-distribution campaign on a large scale.
Dalit Bandhu was allocated Rs 17,700 crore in the 2023-24 Telangana budget, and seeks to cater to 1.77 lakh SC families.
The Assembly polls in Telangana are due in December.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels | Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks