Mob attacks two forest department employees in Telangana village; incident comes days after assault on woman officer

Hyderabad: Two forest department employees sustained injuries in an attack allegedly by a group of tribals in a village in Telangana, days after the brutal assault of a woman forest officer that triggered an outrage. Police said the two forest personnel came under attack at Timmampet village in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district on Monday night after they objected to the ploughing of forest lands. [caption id=“attachment_6919671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An unidentified man was seen hitting the woman official on Sunday. (Image: Twitter/ANI)[/caption] The injured have been admitted to a local government hospital, a police official said. The fresh incident came on a day when the Sunday attack on 34-year old forest range officer C Anita by a group of people, allegedly led by ruling TRS MLA Koneru Konappa’s brother Krishna, evoked outrage with the issue echoing in Parliament. The victim, being treated at a private super speciality hospital here after being attacked with huge bamboo sticks, has said even animals are not hit this way. The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday expressed concern and asked the state DGP to give a detailed report on action taken after the attack in connection with which police arrested the MLA’s brother and 13 others on charges, including an attempt to murder. Anita, along with her staff and police, had gone to Sarasala village in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district for plantation on land under a compensatory afforestation scheme for Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project when she was attacked. Video footage of the attack showed Anita climbing onto a tractor to escape from the bamboo stick-wielding people. Besides, the state forest department has lodged a complaint against TRS MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao for allegedly “obstructing” construction of a wall for protection of forest land near Yellandu town on 29 June, a charge denied by him. On the latest incident involving the tribals, police said they have registered cases against 12 people. Quoting the complaint from officials, police said trouble broke out on Monday night when the two forest personnel, accompanied by other staff, tried to stop some villagers who were trying to plough forest land. “The villagers attacked the officials when they were trying to seize a tractor used for ploughing. We have registered cases against 12 persons, an official of Mulkalapally police station told reporters. A forest department official, who was part of the team, said ‘Guttikoyas’ (tribals) came in large numbers and attacked them with sticks. BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao hit out at the ruling TRS over the attacks on the personnel. “When uniformed officials are being attacked, what are you waiting for. It looks as if his (Chief Minister K Chandrasekar) own MLAs are not listening to him,” he said in a statement here. The whole county saw how a woman official was attacked and yet there was no clear statement from the TRS or the head of the government or ministers so far, he charged. Referring to the complaint against MLA Venkateswara Rao, the BJP leader alleged that the former and his son threatened forest officials when they were trying to build a protection wall for forest land.