KCR PROMISES ADIVASI MLAS TO RESOLVE PODU LAND ISSUE

■ The legislators said Mr Rao promised to visit every tribal constituency and resolve the issue.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday promised four Congress MLAs belonging to the Adivasi community to hold a meeting in the first week of February to resolve the issue of Podu land and formulate policy for the welfare and development of tribals.

The Congress MLAs — Mr R. Kantha Rao, Mr Athram Sakku, Ms D. Anasuya alias Seethakka, Mr P. Veeraiah and Ms Haripriya Banoth — met Mr Rao in the Assembly.

After the meeting, the legislators told reporters that Mr Rao had promised that he would visit every tribal constituency and resolve the issue of podu lands on the spot.

The MLAs represented to the Chief Minister that tribals were in a very backward condition and had been facing attacks from other communities. The officials had been neglecting them. They told the Chief Minister that there was no representation in the Indian Police Service from their communities in the state.

The Chief Minister promised the legislators of starting 16 mining units in Yellandu as the only one which is functional is likely to close shortly after which the people of the area will be unemployed, Ms Banoth said.

The meeting led to speculation that they could switch sides. After the election results, many TRS leaders including party working president K.T. Rama Rao had said that several Congress MLAs were in touch with the leadership and would join the TRS in the coming days.

However, the MLAs had denied the speculation and said they had met the Chief Minister mainly on the issue of Podu lands in the tribal areas as it was a major problem. Tribals had been pressuring them for resolving the issue, the legislators said.