Summary:
Visakhapatnam: The Vizianagaram district administration has distributed pattas of 81,836 acres of podu land among forest communities who have been tilling such ‘podu land’, said district collector Hari Jawahar Lal. He revealed that 649 acres will be distributed among 211 persons, who applied for the pattas from Daraparti, S Kota, Mulaboddavar village in S Kota mandal. He announced that anyone who has been involved in Podu farming and does not have a patta or legal document for land ownership, can apply for the pattas at the revenue office. This is the first time that pattas of plain areas have been distributed among forest dwellers.He was speaking at a meeting on the implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or Forest Rights Act on Thursday at the collectorate. Applications by 1,198 persons for 1,937 acres of land are yet to be looked into.Podu is a traditional system of cultivation whereby certain areas of forest are cleared by burning to make way for crops..