26 tribals arrested for encroaching land in Kawal Tiger Reserve

The forest officials arrested 26 persons from Kumram Bheem Asifabad district for allegedly encroaching forest land by felling trees on Saturday night. They were produced before a local court, which remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.

According to Forest Divisional Officer (FDO) M. Ram Mohan, the accused had tried to illegally occupy forest land in the Palaghori area (Compt. No. 249) of Sonapur Thanda beat under Kawal village limits of Jannaram mandal in Mancherial district. The Kawal forest block was declared a Reserved Forest (RF) in 1350 Fasli (1940 AD) and later notified as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1999 and a Tiger Reserve in 2011.

The FDO stated that the encroachers had been trying to occupy the forest land for years, claiming it belonged to their ancestors, which, he said, was false. The land, recorded as Mahasura (Forest Land) in revenue records, consists of 9,631.33 acres and is part of the Kawal Reserved Forest Block, he added.

“The accused allegedly indulged in tree felling and erected huts in the Palaghori area since 2023. Despite being evicted and having their huts removed in September 2024, they returned in August 2025. Forest authorities, revenue officials and community leaders counselled them to leave, but in vain,” the FDO said.

The encroachers had allegedly attacked forest staff while they were discharging their duties and lodged complaints with the police for assaulting public servants.