Forest officials continued saplings plantation in sarasala village

Braving brief spells of rain and constant drizzle, forest officials continued saplings plantation in the degraded forest land near Kotha Sarsala village of Kaghaznagar mandal for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

Unfazed by the Sunday attack, over 300 foresters descended on the site and took part in plantation of over 7,000 saplings on Monday. Indian Forest Service officers, District Forest Officers and Forest Range Officers, Deputy FROs, Forest Section Officers and Forest Beat Officers belonging to 13 districts of northern Telangana took part in the drive. They were provided security by 200 policemen led by Ramagundam Commissioner of Police V Sathyanarayana and Mancherial DCP Rakshita K Murthy.On the second day, foresters of various ranks belonging to erstwhile Adilabad district showed similar zeal and turned up for planting saplings. The intermittent showers and drizzle failed to dampen their spirit. “We planted over 3,000 saplings till 3 pm. Due to rain, the activity slowed down today,” District Forest Officer L Ranjith Naik told.’

The target, set by authorities of Forest Department, is 22,000 saplings on the 20 hectares of degraded forest land under compensatory afforestation for Kaleswharam project. Officials concerned are confident that the target would be reached by the end of this week. They added that the operation would boost their morale to fight assaults against the foresters in future.

On the second day, Kumram Bheem Asifabad Superintendent M Malla Reddy supervised security arrangements at the plantation drive. He said around 200 policemen were deployed for the protection. Godavarikhani ACP Umender, Asifabad DSP Satyanarayana, five Circle Inspectors and 20 Sub-Inspectors and several constables were present.

In the meantime, the authorities of the department began digging cattle proof trench (CPT) around the land in order to prevent entry of domestic animals in the plot, using proclainers. This move will also bar humans from entering into the plantation. Adilabad Conservator of Forester CP Vinod Kumar, forest range officers and Deputy FROs, FSOs and FBOs working with all divisions participated in the activity.