Tribals attack forest officials at Khedpa village in DNH

SURAT: Two range forest officers (RFOs), including seven other forest officials, were injured in a mob attack at Khedpa village in Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) on Monday.
Official sources said a mob of over 500 tribals supported by Jungle Jamin Janjivan Andolan attacked the forest team headed by RFOs MR Nadge and Kiran Parmar so as to register their right on the forest land.
Nadge and other staff were at Junkunpada of Khedpa village to finalize land alignment for tree plantation by the forest department on Monday. It was at that time when nearly 500 tribals from Khedpa village took the officers captive. RFO Kiran Parmar and his team went to the spot around 12 pm when they were gheraoed by the tribals and attacked. Parmar and Shanker Rohit along with other five forest officials sustained serious injuries on their head as they were pelted with stones and beaten up with sticks. The injured were rushed to Vinoba Bhave Civil Hospital at Silvassa and a police complaint was lodged. The condition of the injured forest officials was stable, sources said.
District Conservator of Forest (DCF) S Dinesh Kannan said, "For the allotment of forest land, a committee has been constituted. The committee has revenue department, forest department and social welfare department officials. Land allotment will be decided by this committee. Strict action will be taken against those who had attacked our officers."