Visakhapatnam: A proper criticism was submitted by way of the Public Grievance Redressal System (PGRS) to A. Shyam Prasad, the collector of Parvathipuram Manyam district, urging compensation for tribal farmers whose properties and crops have been destroyed by wild elephant assaults. In response to the criticism, Shyam Prasad ordered instant clarification from the forest division and instructed officers to conduct an intensive discipline investigation, submitting their report at once.
The petition was submitted by CPM district secretary Kolli Gangu Naidu and CPM committee member Kolli Sambamurthy, who briefed the media on the extent of destruction throughout Kurupam mandal, together with the Jarada and Tithiri panchayats, significantly in villages corresponding to Boddamaguda, Gumidimanuguda, Gundam, Kothaguda, and Nimalimanuguda. They reported that standing crops, together with broom, paddy, turmeric, maize, cotton, and bananas, had been fully ravaged by elephant herds. Whereas officers from the Forest, Agriculture, and Income departments visited the affected areas, assessed the damages, and picked up purposes from farmers, no compensation has been issued, even after.
Sambamurthy alleged that Jarada panchayat vice chairman Harika Ramesh and others have been stopped by forest officers on their approach to the collector’s workplace and have been suggested to not submit their criticism by way of the PGRS. He criticised the forest division’s actions, questioning the delay in compensation regardless of assurances that funds could be processed inside per week.
He demanded that the forest, agriculture, and income departments take pressing and clear steps to compensate all tribal farmers affected by crop loss and displacement. “Many villages have been destroyed, but not a single rupee has been paid to those that misplaced their properties and crops,” Sambamurthy said.
Sambamurthy additionally highlighted the current injury to elephants within the Kurupam constituency and reiterated the necessity for instant motion from the Forest Division to compensate the affected households.
