Villagers prevent officials from conducting survey

Villagers of Balige prevented the forest department employees from entering the village when the officials and staff visited Balige to conduct a  survey on the forest land.

Range Forest Officer Sundaresh along with department surveyors and other staff had been to Balige village to survey the forest land near Inam land and prepare a sketch.

Balige villagers who learnt about the survey, tried to stop the staff from surveying. But the forest staff ignored their protest and continued their work. Enraged over this, the villagers gheraoed them and said that they would not allow forest department staff to move from the spot.

One of the protesters, Dharanendra said that the poor cultivators in Inam land are facing the threat of eviction due to the false survey by the forest department. Before identifying the land to be evicted, the departments should identify revenue and forest land. Villagers have been cultivating on Inam land since several decades, he said.

The heated atmosphere was calmed down after Kalasa police arrived at the spot. The forest staff stopped the survey and returned to Kalasa.