
Tribals protest against hydropower plants
Braving heavy rains, hundreds of tribals staged a massive protest in Pedakota, inspecting the proposed site for hydropower plant construction. They burned a copy of the GO and strongly opposed the cabinet's decision to approve the project. They demanded the immediate withdrawal of order.
They expressed anger over the decision by the New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd. (NREDCAP) to increase the project capacity in the Pedakota area from 800 MW to 1800 MW.
They said that between 2019 and 2025, the state govts approved several lift pumped storage power projects with a capacity of 900 MW in areas between Rayavada, Chintalapudi, and Marika in Pedakota region of Raghavapalem area.
They condemned the alleged attempt to forcibly evict tribals and poor people from their homes in these scheduled areas. They warned of potential clashes between the company (which got the contract) and tribals, claiming that the government must take full responsibility for any such incident.

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Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Tribals protest against hydropower plants
Visakhapatnam: Tribals of Ananthagiri mandal in Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Wednesday demanded the immediate cancellation of the govt order which permits the construction of hydro power plants in Pedakota area. Braving heavy rains, hundreds of tribals staged a massive protest in Pedakota, inspecting the proposed site for hydropower plant construction. They burned a copy of the GO and strongly opposed the cabinet's decision to approve the project. They demanded the immediate withdrawal of order. They expressed anger over the decision by the New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd. (NREDCAP) to increase the project capacity in the Pedakota area from 800 MW to 1800 MW. They said that between 2019 and 2025, the state govts approved several lift pumped storage power projects with a capacity of 900 MW in areas between Rayavada, Chintalapudi, and Marika in Pedakota region of Raghavapalem area. They condemned the alleged attempt to forcibly evict tribals and poor people from their homes in these scheduled areas. They warned of potential clashes between the company (which got the contract) and tribals, claiming that the government must take full responsibility for any such incident.


Hans India
3 days ago
- Hans India
DYFI demands solution for language volunteers' issues
Vijayawada: The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) urged the state government to address the long-standing issues faced by language volunteers, who have been providing crucial services for the past 18 years. G Ramanna, DYFI state secretary, highlighted the plight of 1,327 language volunteers across 7 ITDA (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) areas, who are struggling to support their families on a meager honorarium of just Rs. 5,000 per month. DYFI representatives submitted a memorandum to M M Naik, principal secretary of tribal welfare department and the additional director of tribal welfare on Monday at the Secretariat, pressing for immediate action. Ramanna stressed the urgent need for the state government to provide minimum wages of Rs 26,000 to these volunteers and ensure their job security. He also demanded the annual issuance of a Government Order (GO) for their renewal each academic year. Language volunteers are instrumental in implementing the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) programme across Andhra Pradesh since 2007. They teach in tribal mother tongues such as Savara, Kuravi, Konda, Adivasi Oriya, Koya, and Sugali, in addition to Telugu, English, and Hindi, in schools ranging from MPPS, UPS, GES, and GUPS. This approach has significantly reduced student dropout rates and encouraged children to stay in school. Currently, 1,122 schools across the state conduct education in tribal mother tongues for grades 1 to 5, benefiting approximately 52,000 children. The DYFI highlighted the inconsistent renewal of these volunteers' services, noting that after a period of non-renewal post-state bifurcation in 2014, they were renewed briefly in 2019 but stopped again in the 2022 academic year. While the previous government renewed them from August to February in 2023 following protests, their services were discontinued in March and April. The volunteers have confirmed that their renewals have resumed from July this academic year under the new coalition government. Ramanna stressed that many language volunteers possess and qualifications, along with Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) certification. He demanded that they be recognised as CRT contract employees and called for the reinstatement of G.O. No. 3 and the release of a Special DSC notification for their regularisation. Kunj Naveen, State Secretary of the Language Volunteers Association, along with Lalitha, Nagamani, Kiran, Sagar, Bhavani, Roja, Uma Maheswari, Sai Vennela, and others were present.


New Indian Express
7 days ago
- New Indian Express
Tamil Nadu forest staff to now get Rs 4.5K per annum to stitch uniforms
COIMBATORE: The state government has hiked the uniform allowance for Tamil Nadu Forest Department staff from Rs 2,800 to Rs 4,500, including the stitching charge, on par with the police personnel. As per the GO issued by Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary of Environment, Climate Change, and Forests, "The state government, after careful examination of the proposal of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force), has decided to accept it and enhance the uniform allowance to Rs 4,500 per annum from forest guard to forest range officer, including for the stitching charges, on par with the police personnel, as the duties of the forest department employees include management and protection of forests and wildlife are eligible for receiving the uniform allowance on par with the police personnel.' The hike will benefit as many as 4,404 staff (current strength), of which 539 are forest range officers, 1,146 foresters, 2,053 forest guards, 126 forest guards with driving licences, and 540 are forest watchers. The sanctioned strength in the forest department is 6,251. The state government is expected to pay Rs 1,98,18,000 to the 4,404 staff and the GO came into force on Monday. Earlier, forest range officers and foresters were getting Rs 2,800 and forest guards, forest watchers and forest guards with licences were getting Rs 2,650. Members of the Tamil Nadu Forest Staff Association expressed happiness as one of their main demands has been addressed. TNIE had reported about the issue on January 13, 2024 and April 2, 2025. "Our long wait for uniform allowance has ended on a fruitful note, as we spend most of the time in the forest diverting the elephants. There have been incidents where shirts and pants were torn during patrol," said S Karthikeyan, president of the association.