/PADERUAs many as 34 tribal farmers from Kandulagadi and Chinnagadda villages under Chintapalli panchayat in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, have urged the Tribal Welfare Department to conduct a district-level joint enquiry into a dispute over 64 acres of revenue lands claimed by both the farmers and the Forest Department.In their representation, the farmers said they had been cultivating the lands for generations and possessed pattas and passbooks issued by the Revenue Department following surveys. They also claimed the lands inherited from their ancestors had been legally mutated in the names of family members.According to the farmers, in January 2026, Forest department officials allegedly engaged contract workers to install cement boundary pillars in their agricultural fields. When questioned, the workers reportedly told them that the pillars were meant for telephone-related works. The farmers subsequently removed the pillars.The Forest Department later claimed that the lands belong to it, leading to a dispute. The farmers alleged that cases were registered against some of them at the Chintapalli police station, following which the farmers subsequently lodged a complaint against forest officials.The farmers submitted a representation to the district Collector on February 11, seeking intervention. Following this, the Chintapalli tahsildar initiated steps for a joint survey by the Revenue and Forest departments.During the survey, Revenue officials reportedly examined revenue records, survey stones, village maps and other available records and informed the Forest officials that the disputed lands belonged to the tribal farmers.“On March 20, the Forest Department issued notices to the farmers, allegedly without clearly specifying the extent of forest land they had allegedly encroached upon. The notices reportedly referred only to the removal of boundary stones and directed us to appear for an enquiry,” said tribal farmers K. Somalingam, Pangi Gurumurthy, in their representation to authorities in the Tribal Welfare Department.The tribal farmers also stated that the dispute once again escalated recently when forest officials allegedly stopped borewell works being undertaken by the farmers for irrigation purpose and took some persons present at the site to the forest office.Another survey was conducted at the mandal level on August 22, but the tribal farmers said it failed to resolve the issue or clearly establish the extent of rights over the disputed lands. Published - August 26, 2026 08:19 pm IST