Forest staff in Telangana seek arms and forest stations amid rising attacks

The demand of the Forest department personnel for providing them arms and setting up forest stations remains a distant dream despite increasing attacks on them in the State.

On July 19, locals attacked forest staff at Keshavapuram village in Adilabad, when they arrived to take up plantation drive. Despite local policemen accompanying them to the village, the forest staff sustained injuries.

This is not an isolated incident. Such cases have been reported across the State since the last few



years. In November 2022, A Forest Range Officer Ch Srinivas Rao was brutally killed by Gutti Koya tribals in Kothagudem over forest jurisdiction issue.

Similarly, there have been cases of Forest Beat Officers being attacked by locals, especially tribals and others, at different places in the State.

Worried over the increasing incidents, the State Forest Service Officers Association (SFSOA) had submitted a representation to the department in the past, appealing to sanction arms and ammunition.