In the heart of Telangana, a battle rages not for personal gain, but for the very lifeblood of the land. The Khammam Forest Division stands as a beacon of hope, where a determined lady range officer and her team, the “green soldiers,” have not only wrestled back encroached forest land from the clutches of the land mafia but are now on a mission to heal the wounds and transform the area back into a thriving forest. Their story is one of unwavering dedication, environmental consciousness, and the fight against apathy toward a vital public resource.
All this was possible due to the support of the Divisional Forest Officer of Khammam, IFS officer Mr. Siddharth Vikram Singh. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he says, “It all boils down to a fundamental difference in how we view property. We fiercely protect what’s private, but neglect what’s common, like our forests. This creates a gap that land mafia exploit, and that’s been a major challenge here in Khammam. In such a situation the work of our green soldiers is remarkable.”
THE INCIDENT
Trouble loomed over the once-peaceful forests of Gubbagurthy. The land there was fertile, with a handy canal nearby for watering crops. This tempted people to slowly take over parts of the forest for farming. Things got heated after a forest officer was even attacked by people from a nearby village, as he attempted to remove the encroachment.
Mr. Singh emphasized that luckily there’s a law called the Forest Act, passed in 1980, to protect these forests. This law says that no one can turn forests into farms or anything else like that without special permission from the government of Delhi. This law gave the forest department the power to take back the land and turn Gubbagurthy green again.
POWER OF COMMUNITY
Mr. Vikram shared the story of Ms. Radhika, a local range officer who knew the area well. Radhika spoke directly with villagers, village leaders, and even the police officers. She tried different ways to get people to understand why the forest land needed protection. This included explaining things to them, using machinery to remove some of the unwanted buildings or crops, and holding many meetings. Finally, after a lot of hard work and sensitizing, people began to agree, and the forest department could take bigger steps to get the land back.
The forest department finally removed all the people who were illegally using the land. They then planted a whole bunch of new trees everywhere to bring the forest back to life. This tree-planting program is called Compensatory Afforestation. Now, the forest is under the department’s control again, and with more than 95% of the new trees surviving, it’s like a brand new forest is growing!
“In Khammam, we couldn’t have done it without the public’s help. Dealing with encroachers is impossible without them on our side. People need to understand that this government land is theirs too. If someone takes it over, it hurts everyone, not just the forest department”, concludes Mr. Singh.
