Amid podu land tensions, Gothi Koyas allege assault, Op Kagar threats

Hyderabad: With the monsoons setting in, the Gothi Koya tribes living in the areas bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana, particularly in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, allegedly face harassment and excesses of the forest officials.

On Friday, June 21, Gothi Koya tribes residing in Iravendi gram panchayat of Burgampahad mandal claimed they, mostly women, were beaten up when they resisted JCBs on their fields.

“There were around ten forest officers. Many women who fell on the ground resisting the JCBs were kicked mercilessly. One officer opened his belt, unzipped his pants, pulled them to his knees and started charging at us,” alleged Madkam Sunitha, a member of the Gothi Koya community.

Podu lands issue

The ongoing conflict between forest officials and tribal communities has persisted for years. Decades ago, several tribals fled Chhattisgarh to Telangana to escape the violence between Maoists and state governments.

The communities started podu cultivation on approximately 120 acres of forest land. Over the past five years, forest officials have made multiple attempts to reclaim this land, fencing off around 80 acres so far.

Speaking to Siasat.com, one tribal said that on June 21, a forest official visited them and collected Rs 2,000 from each family to let them cultivate their crops.

“The very next day, a team of forest officials led by deputy range officer Nagaraju went to the village with a JCB and started destroying their fields.

The men were scared to face the forest officials, so they sent their women. When the women went to question the officials, they were allegedly inhumanely assaulted by the officials.

Hearing the commotion, a teacher who was taking a class nearby recorded the assault on the tribals. She alleged that her phone was snatched away even before she hit the record button.

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“Forest officer Nagaraju threatened us, saying he would unleash ‘Operation Kagar’ on us and dump us back to Chhattisgarh,” a young tribal told Siasat.com.

Operation Kagar is a counter-insurgency operation launched by the Central government in 2024 aimed at eliminating Maoism from Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Many tribal communities have found themselves caught in the crossfire, often facing violence and displacement.

Activists allege that Operation Kagar is being used as a cover for extrajudicial killings in areas of conflict, especially minority and tribal areas.

In a recent crossfire, CPI‑Maoist general secretary, Nambala Keshava Rao (Basavaraju), was killed in the dense forests of Abhujmad on the tri-junction of Narayanpur-Bijapur-Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh.

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When asked about the attack, DRO Nagaraju shifted the blame to the tribal women. “It was them who started it in the first place,” he told local media.

“The dispute between the Gothi Koya community and the forest department is not just limited to Iravendi,” said a local tribal rights activist, “It has spread to several villages like Karakagudem, Sathupalli, Chandrugonda and Enkur mandals in Bhadradri Kothagudem and Khammam districts,” they added.

The Gothi Koyas told Siasat.com that they had applied for rights on their podu lands under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. The previous BRS government had carried out surveys, but so far, none of the families have received pattas for their lands.

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